My daughter was a high achiever from an early age. Figuring out shape sorters by nine months old. Knowing her alphabet and many phonetic sounds by 18 months. Counting to ten before she was 2. She was reading by the time she was three, she could count to 100 by 3-something, etc. She's always been very advanced across the board when it came to cognitive skills, really. I figured by the time she was 18 months or so that she was different. But, I was 'scared' to say she was gifted, because you know there's such a stigma that it's just parental bragging. I did start to do research then. I was tested as gifted a child as well. By the time she was two, 2.5 I gave up being afraid of it and embraced it. It's not like I walk around TELLING people she's gifted, but I told myself it was okay to realize your child is a particular way. And it wasn't JUST the high achieving. If you just sit and have a conversation with her, she often doesn't talk like an 'average' child of her age. She says all sorts of idioms and phrases that are way beyond her years. She's freshly five now and can read pretty much anything with immense comprehension and memory. She also happens to be insanely hyperactive and has a hard to focusing on things that are of low interest. So, there's that aspect. She has taught me a lot about myself along the way as well. We're only getting started!
And yes, she's always been an incredibly lousy sleeper. She still wakes up at least 1-2x almost every single night, often comes and gets us for some completely unnecessary reason. It's been a struggle. My two year old sleeps better than she does. We've tried positive reinforcement, we've tried negative reinforcement (we're desperate, it's nothing extreme lol) - we're so desperate to get her to sleep, or at least not wake us up. She's been potty trained since she was 25 months old but still gets us up. It's a comfort thing, I guess, but I don't know how to change her ways. I happen to be a really lousy sleeper as well and it will often taken me over an hour or more to get back to sleep after getting up with her. My husband often takes the duty but he travels heavily so I'm alone a lot with the kids. It's tiring.
FWIW: I also think my son may be 2E - he has a lot of delays in all areas, but he also exhibits certain signs of intelligence that are more subtle. So, time will tell on him. He's not the 'stereotypical' high achiever like my daughter was/is.
