Originally Posted by MumOfThree
Aquinas, when my youngest was about 18 months I had multiple people asking me if she was 3 or 4 as in "Is she 3, or 4?" Or "So she's.... 3... And a half?". An THAT was weird enough for me. In my case they wet all looking right at her and so maybe it helped them not guess older, she is huge, but still he difference between 1.5 and 3.5 is a lot even wen you're tall! She wasn't as advanced as your son though, and she's kind of slowed down with the more overt advanced skills as she focuses on being a social butterfly. She's hugged strangers in public twice this week. Both times she maybe meant to hug my legs but her response I not to freak out, it's "I'm firstname, that's my mummy, I blah blah blah blah blah blah...." While hey look on in befuddlement.

Thank you so much for the reassurance!! I knew the Davidson crew would be able to commiserate.

I felt like I'd been dropped into the story of the emperor with no clothes, like everyone around me is drinking some psychedelic child-aging Kool-Aid. We can't go anywhere these days without DS being described as "brilliant" or "unbelievable" within a minute of meeting someone. It's making me antsy because we don't use that language at home. For instance, today on the train, DS was examining a screw and declared that he needed an Allen wrench to fit it, and the man next to us gasped and mouthed "He's a genius." That hyperbole makes me so uncomfortable, and I don't think there's any reasonable way to shelter DS from that kind of label. He's too young for those to be teachable moments.

I'm starting to feel like I have no idea what "advanced" looks like. To me, DS is just a giggly, charming toddler. He just happens to use words like "crenellated battlements" and "parasaurolophus", which make him seem older.

Excuse my tizzy. I didn't mean to spill my guts, but apparently that's been getting to me subconsciously. I just want him to have a fairly normal childhood without internalizing exaggerated labels or being a spectacle.

What is to give light must endure burning.