Our second was much, much easier as a baby. Heck, even the labor didn't involve a three day induction, so I can say that was easier!

On the other hand, I'm kind of leaning toward our oldest being easier as an older kid and teen than our younger one, who talks non-stop and is rather defensive and oppositional. I really didn't do anything differently with the two of them!

I notice the "zombie" type look on kids around here too. Very different look in their eyes compared to what I see in mine. I thought for a while that I felt mine were more focused just because I KNOW my kids. But quickly that assumption was out the window. There is a huge, undeniable difference.

When DS4 was not even a year old he would be playing with a labyrinth toy at the play center we go to with a lot of other kids. The difference in focus was very apparent. The same now with DS2 (do not know yet if he is gifted too but I suspect)
I saw a video just recently of DS2 being about 10 minutes old. He was "sitting up" against my legs as I was laying down, eyes wide open, looking around...he looks like he is about 3 months old. At the time I didn't now anything different since DS4 was the same way. I also was not aware of the gifted concept. But it sure looks really funny to me now that I realize that is probably not normal....:-)

Our 2nd was our easiest, our third our hardest, *i* was the zombie that first year, not her. She's the most delightful and difficult child... And probably our most gifted at a guess.

I thought I was just imagining I saw that "sleepy" look. That's a perfect description.

DS' eyes are always sparkling and alert and when you see him with most other kids his age (and some older), you see the difference.

We've even had complete strangers comment on how engaging he is.

Other children often seemed drugged with that glazed look, and I was always taken aback by their language which seemed very babyish. They often seemed much less intense, and I was stunned at how they could just sit and stare into space. My children always seemed very restless, intense, awake, and just THERE in an obvious way. I feel guilty writing all this and it seems so politically incorrect to admit, but its the truth.

Umm. Trying to say this gently. Feel free to disagree with me loudly.

The "Do you brag?" thread was a big discussion about how other people can get wound up if we talk about our kids and traits they were born with. Some people felt it was unfair to judge a gifted child negatively for traits he was born with.

It seems to me that some of the posts on this thread cross (way over) the line and are looking down on other children for the way that they were born. I don't think we want to come across as looking down on others (?), yet I think this thread is doing just that.

This is just my two little pennies dropping quietly onto the table of discussion.

"I told DH... you know, maybe the other parents look at our daughter and think she has a dazed look on her face, too. We just think she is alert and there because we are used to her. Maybe no one else notices DD's alertness and thinks their child is the most aware one there..."
-quoting OP

It stands to reason that you'd be more tuned in to your own kid. This is a spin-off of the Infant Alertness thread, right?! It is posted in the preschool, and most of the posters in this thread have the younger kids. The socially appropriate way to make this comparison is endless threads about, "help! My toddler won't stop!". Not, "um, why are the other kids going in slow-mo?". Get some class, folks! (i'm seriously the pot & kettle there.).

My perceptions of same age kids is they're all hooligans since we don't do Sunday School or Preschool my kids socialize at the playground at the mall. I didn't know Zombies could run that fast. Actually, I'm the Zombie and my kids ate my brain.

The other kids always seemed... lesser to me somehow, sub-human almost, in a throwbacky kind of way that I couldn't quite fathom. Then, once I got DS's achievement and IQ testing results, I knew the reason. They were. I knew then why when I brought doughnuts to day care one day, DS picked a powdered one packed with jelly, the way his head is packed full of brains, while the others picked the glazed ones with holes in the middle.

I lol'd like the Pillsburry Doughboy.