Only thing I remember DD did not do early was rolling. I remember us waiting anxiously for her to roll and the day she turned 5mo she learned to roll on her right side and 2 weeks later on her left. She actually could sit by herself before roll on both sides. We also had a 11mo old baby having terrible two's...

We got fridge magnets when she started walking bit over 10mo and she was amazed with the fact that they stay on the fridge door. She walked around the apartment for a week trying to get them to stick on other places. She did the same thing with her wall stickers and seemed puzzled for a while why do the magnets only stick on the fridge and dishwasher. It was lot of fun to look at her.

Now at 27mo her puzzle building abilities are not comparable to any other child I have seen. She also constantly surprises us with her understanding about reading. She does not read although she knows that letters makes sounds, what is the direction of reading, she can tell what letters word start with and has sight words. Few times we have not been sure how she was able to figure out what a sign said but at this point we do not believe she reads and make explanations for her LOL

On saturday we walked on the airport and there was a coffee shop. DD has never been in one or seen us carrying a paper coffee cup as we make our own coffee at home. She pointed the huge "coffee" sign from the far and told me there is coffee. We explained it to our self that she must have smelled the coffee from far away and that is the reason she knew the sign said coffee:) The weirdest thing is that we do not call coffee "coffee" as our home language is not english. Then the next day she was drinking from my husband coffee cup which has a text saying "I'm crabby before I get my coffee" she claimed it said crabby where it actually said coffee? I think she is using some of her reading knowledge to guess what words say and she might get lucky sometimes.

The very first thing that stands out was that my DS never put a thing in his mouth. When he started to crawl I went through the entire house on hands and knees looking for possible choking hazards... I needn't have bothered, not one thing ever went in his mouth. While I found it pretty odd, I didn't really think about it until he started writing the alphabet at about 11 mos. That was the day I officially freaked out!

I guess I a still having problems with this. It's hard to really wrap my head around the things DD is doing that aren't normal. At 2.5 she recognizes all letters Upper and Lower case, can match them, knows their sounds, can do beginning and ending letters in words, counts everything, and not just rote counting like most kids her age, but actually counting. I never realized it wasn't normal for kids not know most colors by 18 months, or that apparently most kids don't know the difference between pink and purple until around 4....she has known this since well before 2. She's alreading is writing most letters, recognizes site words.

I guess one thing that happened really early, that at the time I assumed was normal.....I can't remember exactly when, but it was sometime after 12 months, but before 18 months, DD began memorizing entire books.... these were short board books, but after reading them once to hr she woulld memorize the entire thing. Now at 2.5 she memorizes books with over 500 words after hearing them only twice.

She also while not reading yet, completely surprises us by "reading" signs. She obviously recognizes words. The other day we placed an icecream place that has been closed for a long time. We have never been there. There sign is still up. And DD knew we were going for icecream and asked if we were going to that ice cream place as we got near it.....It had no pics or anything around to help associate, it jut said xxxxxxx icecream. DH and I were both floored.

Well...I'd be cautious about identifying something like not putting things in the mouth with giftedness. I think that putting things in the mouth or not is more of a preference on the part of the baby/child.

Just my 2c.

Val

True, it probably is a preference. However both of my guys stopped mouthing MUCH earlier than most children so I think that it's a pretty interesting idea.

Great thread! It' so true that we have warped sense of what is "normal!"

DD6 was also very alert and aware of his surroundings at birth. He cried for a couple of seconds and then just stared around the room and at me with this little "o" shape to his lips. The funniest thing I can remember though, is when he was 2-3 months old, my dh would read him this story about a funny little monster who tried to sound scary. The "monster" would try to sound scary (and dh would make the noise and show his muscles), but he wasn't scary at all. The little monster just sounded silly and made everyone laugh. I assume ds didn't know what we were reading to him, but he started making his own little monster noise and motion with his body (arching his back, scrunching up his face, tensing all of his muscles, and making a little noise) when dh would get close to the moster-noise part of the book. So, after that we'd just say, "show us your monster!" and ds would do it on command. We thought it was hilarious and definitely curious, but we had no idea what we were in for! LOL

Ds also talked in complete sentences very early and always pronounced words correctly from the beginning. No developmental mispronuciations of words. I'm a speech therapist, so I always thought that was different.

I was labeled gifted and sucked my thumb until I was 5. But it's an oral fixation, not because I put everything and anything in my mouth. DS never sucked his thumb or took a paci and NEVER put anything in his mouth.

It's not the label of a paci/thumb sucker that they were talking about, Val, but babies learn by putting things in their mouths... so not doing so at this age or that age (the normal "baby sticks everything in mouth" age) will either mean the child is slightly ahead or slightly behind the "game".

DS5.5 never had to have his head held, and he "stood" pretty much right at birth (would push against my legs if I put his feet on them). He also physically pouted after I said something and pouted myself (at him) at less than 2 weeks old.

This, I think, is normal. DD did it too, and my research indicated that newborns have a primitive walking reflex.

Standing is a primitive reflex. Whether the infant can do it or not, really depends on their muscle tone. Some babies are naturally more stiff, and some are naturally more floppy. Premies tend to be stiffer and stand sooner. And of course, fatter babies are at a disadvantage for supporting their weight. There are also differences in races across the continuum.
Tone for standing peaks around 2 months, and sometimes the standing totally disappears til about 6 months. Loss of standing is considered normal, but it doesn't always happen.

When we see a baby that is standing as a newborn, it's only concerning if there is arching of the body, with head being way back. It can be a sign of pain (usually GI reflux) or neurological abnormality. Also, lying on your back tends to encourage "extensor tone" which helps with primitive standing, while lying on your stomach encourages "flexor tone". These are called the tonic labrythine reflexes in case anyone wants to look them up.