I read and hear a lot about quirkiness both in gifted and 2e children. A friend of mine has 2e DS's and we were discussing how they are quirky. She asked if I felt DD7 was. My first thought when I sum DD7 personality as a whole is not quirkiness but would be intense. She is intense in just about everything she does.

How would you describe quirkiness? I wonder if DD7 is all we really know and don't see it.

I think of a quirk as an unusual and unexpected character trait that someone holds firmly onto. Quirkiness to me is having a noticeable number of quirks.

Quirks as seen by muggles:
Carrying a pencil tucked above the ear
Ending most sentences with "haha"
Echolalia
Insisting on wearing purple and orange every day
Sticking tongue out while concentrating
Humming
Rocking in chair while reading
Using large words in uncommon places of conversation
Reading off time down to the second
Talking very fast
Quickly glancing of into the distance while talking

One or maybe two of those (or similar) is character flavor, more than say three or four is quirkiness.

I'm laughing because ZS used the word "muggles." I have a friend who said about someone she knew, "I'm not sure...but I think she isn't a Muggle," and I laughed, because DD9 also isn't a Muggle. I swear, if a Hogwarts letter COULD come, one would come for her. DS5, OTOH, is equally bright if not more so, but I think he is a Muggle. He lives more on earth with humans.

Anyway, DD is also passionate/negative, sees all kinds of unusual connections, is extremely philsophical about all kinds of odd and interesting things, and is highly creative in every realm possible. Also, anxious, emotional, intense, and...fast. And she has believed herself to be a grown-up since about age 18 months, which is a...problem. She can also be verrrrrry silly, though. Hypersilly, verging on hysteria. This looks ADHD at times, but I think it is what is left of SPD. Then it can switch RIGHT off and she will ask you an impossible question about death and the universe.

I define "quirky" as a kid who says, "Yay!" because you got her another copy of her school science textbook that she can write on, then takes it with her to the toilet.

Half an hour later, she presents a cup of pencil shavings, and announces her plan to turn it into paint, as a science experiment, saying, "I'm a scientist."

And less than half an hour after that, says, "I don't even like science."

Quirkiness in my DS6:

1. Funny/intense interests- for instance, last night he made up of a multiplication game and became so wired by it that he had trouble falling asleep
2. Big words and interesting/hilarious/sad observations about the world around him.
3. Intensity- becoming over the top upset by small set backs and disappointments.
4. A big disparity between emotional maturity and intellectual maturity. He can be impulsive and can have occasional difficulty relating to other children (although he is very interested in having friends)
5. Mild social anxiety

As far as we know, he's not 2e. He falls into the HG range.

For us "quirky" means having to pick up anything that is interesting, shiny, or just "ohh neato" no matter how disgusting it is or if it is in the middle of a toxic puddle of parking lot ooze. When not allowed to pick said object up, DD then gets upset like you didn't allow her to pick up Willy Wonka's golden ticket or the one thing that would cure all diseases and save humankind. All these things come home and are absolutely treasured objects that can never be thrown away.

How about naming every stuffed animal, Lego creation, McDonald's toy, etc. in her room with tiny pieces of paper taped to them so everything has a proper name. Even if the name is Targuz or Speril or who knows what. And...remembering what everything's name is.

Keep in mind these are just two examples. LOL!

My DD hoards brochures, flyers, business cards, and anything else that's set out for the public to take one. These are her "important papers," and she keeps them in a manila folder in the car for review. DW secretly trashes some when it gets out of hand.

A typical hotel lobby brochure display is like Disneyland for her.

This weekend I had to stop her from collecting one each of the gift cards at Starbucks.

Dude!
You made me laugh so hard.

My DS9 LOVES those Apartment Finder Guides (despite living in a quite spacious house), the Real Estate circulars, and the like and hoards those like they are gold. The funny thing is that he has hooked his sister, DD6. They both sit there in the car comparing features of the dream apartments they want to live in when they are grown up. "Hey this one has built in lofts" "This one is conveniently located near all the major freeways!" "Mom, when [DD6's name] is President, can she still live in an apartment near me?" "Mom, when [DS9's name] goes to [fill in name of X college or university], can I live in this apartment with him because it has a coffee bar!!"

There are stacks of them in his room and in the car that I have to throw out when they aren't looking.

[quote=Dude][quote=1frugalmom]
My DD hoards brochures, flyers, business cards, and anything else that's set out for the public to take one./quote]

Oh gosh, this is soooo my 9 year old dd. Not just flyers and brochures, but she insists on washing out and saving the containers from food stuff. I can only imagine the therapy sessions we'll be funding when she's in existential teen crisis: "My mom ruined my life! She recycled all my treasures!!! She didn't understand!!!!"

I suppose I must be a bit quirky myself, because I never thought of all her hoarding as quirky, just a bit obsessive and annoying

polarbear

The collecting... oh my yes! "But Mom this is USEFUL! I need to keep it. Please don't throw it away. It's very special to me." I have to hide our recycling and take out garbage when he isn't looking.

The business card collecting particularly amuses me... Why DOES my 6yr old need to take EVERY business card he can find (and even ask for one everywhere they aren't displayed) and keep them forever?

I once took him to a lecture series at 4 and we had to visit EVERY booth in the display area and get one of every free thing offered EVERY day!! I'm still throwing out things from that trip...

DS (6) talks very slow and sometimes sounds like a cartoon character. I know that the second he opens his mouth, strangers think "What an odd kid." Pretty sure that's part of his developmental coordination disorder/dyspraxia rather than a true "quirk". when he was a baby through preschooler age, almost all of his speech was in an extremely high pitch, and he went through a 2 month phase when he was around 3 where he meowed like a cat rather than spoke English. The meows were different pitches to communicate different things, for instance happy meows, aggressive meows, etc. He also spent a lot of time crawling around on the floor like a cat.


He has been completely obsessed with Minecraft since he was around 3 (before anyone even knew what it was and all the hype)--it was odd seeing a toddler who could barely talk and communicated by making animal noises, building complex things on there.

DD(7) sleepwalks and every morning we don't know where we will find her in the house. She could be asleep on her bedroom floor, on the bathroom floor, curled up on a living room chair, sprawled out on the floor in the hallway, etc.

When she was 2, her speech was very advanced and she was talking in full, articulate sentences. She called literally everyone "honey" or "hon" (even old biker guys in Wal Mart) and used the word in every other sentence. We would check out at the store and she would say to the cashier "How are you doing today, hon?" She did that for a full year, I think.

Thanks for the laughs! I guess DH, DD7 and myself are all quirky as we fit well with the descriptions given minus the hoarding stuff. Although as a young child I remember that I loved looking at real estate guides and the apartment guide.
I would say that out of us 3 I am the closest to a muggle lol
DH and DD7 are nonconformist and I would say they both struggle with that the most socially. As a young girl I found it easier to conform than to fight it. I still find it easier and DH will question why I do it when I clearly feel/think otherwise.

I think that this is a "collector" impulse. Hoarding is such an ugly word.




(DD and I both have this gene, btw.) DH would add that I'm a person who should only go to home-shows and trade-shows with one-to-one supervision. LOL.

DD is a hard-core "collector." We've tried to direct this impulse into things like Lego Minifigs and other small items like stamps or coin collecting. Nothing ALIVE.

Other quirks that my various family members have are related to office supplies. The right kinds of paper, the right type of pens and pencils... the right COLOR of ink...(I carry my own pens, I'm so fond of deep green, actually)...

The inability to just SIT and do nothing (how the heck do people not go over the edge standing in line at the post office or DMV, anyway??)

a need for clothing to be precisely "right" (in terms of feel, fit, smell, and wrinkle-status)


I think that a lot of quirkiness is OE.

My DD has a thing about the paint color sample cards at Lowes, Home Depot, etc.

LOL

I have managed over time to bring it down first to green (her favorite color) then to just one sample of one shade of green.

Having said that I encourage some of it myself - things like animal bones, skulls, cool rocks/stones, colored river/sea glass etc have always been collected and coveted and I think that stuff is cool

DH is a muggle. The rest of us, apparently, live with various ones of you people.

We have skirted this problem by telling her we have to buy those. Instead she will obsessively organize them while we are waiting in line.




I can relate - We still get this every once in a while. DD will hiss at us when we are annoying her (her opinion) by trying to talk to her or ask her to do something. She will also walk straight up to a peer and growl at them if they are getting on her nerves. I'm sure this probably isn't helping her socially, but it is sort of funny to watch in a, "yep, that's my kid" kind of way.

my kid's quirk is that in any down time (and sometimes when it isn't downtime) he will walk around muttering to himself and acting things out (sound effects and all). If interrupted, he will state "Hold on, I just have to get through this scene... I am workign on a [movie] [book] [video game]." He's been doing this for as long as I can remember. It is seeming more and more weird. LOL. He often has entire worlds, conversations scenes, etc going on in his little head. Fortunately, most of DS's friends and classmates now know him as a "writer" and DS will just say I am working on my next movie/book/game. I am not sure if this a quirk or a disorder

I spent much of my childhood doing similar things, Irena. I actually seem quite normal to most people, and did by the time I was in high school. At least I think that I do. They don't seem to avoid eye contact or edge away from me or anything. LOL. They think I'm a little eccentric, and frighteningly good at some really arcane or strange things, and that I am not an annoying know-it-all, because I'm not out to dominate, and I don't talk just to hear my own voice (actually, I'm kind of introverted) I just know a lot of things...

{mumbles} just don't take me to Sherwin-Williams.... I'm likely to become unhinged when they don't have the RIGHT shade of orange... or blue-green....

And fabric samples-- don't even get me started. I looked at over 2K fabric samples for my living room sofa. I could SEE it in my head. I wound up "settling" on an avocadoey green, but what a really wanted was a delicate spring or pear color instead Like a fresh slice of key lime pie. Instead, I got guacomole. {sigh} It was quite frustrating to me.

I also had custom paint mixed for my kitchen cabinets and did them myself so that I could get what I wanted. Color is a BIG, BIG quirk of mine.

DD makes alpaca noises to express anxiety or irritation.

Luckily, she doesn't spit.

DS6 makes dog noises to express happiness or sadness. Not like all the time, just when he wants to be funny. Happy is an open mouth pant, big eyes and a little dance that looks like a tail wag. Sad is a little wimper with his hands up like begging paws.

Ah, I thought DD was the only one who did that! Right down to tiny pieces of paper taped on, and remembering all the obscure names.

DS sometimes communicates by meowing or mooing.

We have skirted this problem by telling her we have to buy those. Instead she will obsessively organize them while we are waiting in line.


DD7 will organize things at stores while we wait in line. She is famous for doing this at the Deli. Many of the employees have joked about her getting a job. It's funny that our family fits so many of these quirks but I considered them normal or kid stuff.

Seriously, these are quirks? Why didn't anyone tell me when I was younger. To me this is normal and my whole house is this way. My DD9 likes to hum or sing while doing homework or reading or just doing whatever. I didn't think that was odd until our nephew moved in with us and asked us if she does that all the time. Umm, yeah, doesn't everyone? My DD and DH collect rocks and skulls and well anything else they find interesting. My house is like a cheap museum where nothing is really organized and you have to ask the curators (DD and DH) what they are because there isn't any other way of telling. And then you wish you hadn't because you'll get the complete history of the earth along with the answer you were really looking for.

Does anyone else have to interrupt a story to tell the spouse or child to please get to the point? I hate to do this but if I don't I may never find out what I need to know by the time I need to know it.

DH is constantly interrupting and ask that I get to the point. I don't intentionally give full details but have to at the same time. Does that make sense?

DS yes, DH no. DS seems to have difficulty, even when prompted and willing, in forming the appropriate abstraction, i.e. working out what part of what he's thinking is of interest to his listener and what they need to know in order to understand it. I hope he'll learn!

Come to think of it, though, he can do it fine in other contexts, e.g. when developing a presentation. Maybe it's more that he can't conceive of anyone not being as interested as he is in every detail of certain subjects...

Also yes to many things in this thread, and to not having seen them as other than normal!

DD loves take-out menus. Her favorite one is the one from Jumba Juice which is more of a brochure. She giggles every time she gets to Groovy Guava.

She is so quirky and strange. I do worry about her a lot.

Quirky is right! Luckily, the kids' friends find their quirks endearing.

My older DS liked to pretend he was a bird, always sitting on his eggs and finding worms, when he was 3ish. Now, as a teenager, he likes to collect all kinds of things, from recyclable paper to bottles to jars. He is also currently into watching every last episode of Little House on the Prairie.

DD always has the most interesting birthday and Christmas lists - nothing like those of her teenage peers: unicycle, stilts, anything from ThinkGeek. This year, when she turned 12, she asked for drywall stilts and a colorful (fake) tiger head to mount on her wall. She could care less if her hair is brushed. And her favorite shows are Psych, Big Bang Theory, and Say Yes to the Dress.

Younger DS used to lay in bed, when he was three, calling out multiplication facts and asking us if he'd figured them out correctly in his head. When he was a baby he wouldn't eat if the silverware drawer wasnt' closed completely. When he was fourish, before he would read a page in a book, he always had to point to the middle line first. Later, he insisted on only reading chapter books with exactly ten chapters. Oh, and in preschool, his goal for the first year was to never have to use the bathroom - just because he thought that would be a fun goal and it kept school interesting!

And DH and I are no more muggle-like than the kids.

BTW: Threads like this remind me of why I love you guys!

My nephew came into a crowded room and started telling a story in a frantic upset way. There were all sorts of details about him going to restroom and needing to blow his nose and how someone had lit a pretty candle in there. After way too long he gets too "and my tissue caught on fire and is still on fire in the trash can." We tease him about that one still.

Awesome.

My favourite is the family member, who if you ask a question such as "Where is my husband?" will reply along the lines of "Well I have this problem with the cable for the stereo in my car.... your car.... thought.... fixing... blah blah blah..." And if you have half an hour that monologue WILL end with where my husband is, but really, could they not say "In my car."?

Oh I am chuckling at both of these. This is exactly what I am talking about. I have to start questions with the answer choices, as in "This is a yes or no question. Is it raining outside?" Sometimes I still get an answer like, "Well the weather channel says no but I was just out there and had to wipe my glasses off when I came inside." Seriously what part of yes or no did they not get?

Having said that I also have to turn a simple question like, "will you turn off the light in the kitchen?" Into a doctorial thesis statement on "why the light is still on and whether it will still be on if no one is in the room to see it," To actually get someone other than myself to turn the thing off, because now it is an experiment rather than just a mundane task...LOL. That's my quirky gifties.

OMG. DD has hundreds of these. There is a drawer in her craft organizer just for them.

Regarding weird names for things, I have a list somewhere of the names of all the imaginary pets DD had when she was 4 to 5. They were extremely weird, like Diminitry, Flundine, and Plectra. We never knew which ones would be with us, but some always were. I still miss them a little bit.

Also, DD used to wear THE craziest outfits. I mean, two different socks, plaid jumper, red shirt, flowered cardigan, striped leggings. This was totally intentional on her part and they would take a long time for her to pick out. These days, her outfits are far more subdued, but she still has a very unique and interesting sense of style--she does not want to wear what the other girls her age are wearing. The other day she said to me, "I prefer not to be in the majority."

When I went to put DD to bed last night, I found half a dozen stuffed animals on her bed (ones that aren't usually, that is -- she only has about three million), and they all had name tags pinned on. Apparently, they had been playing school.

I can't imagine what would happen if DD knew about paint color sample cards. I just can't.

And yes, I frequently have to stop one of the kids to get to the point, and then I let them tell the story. Sometimes that even works. DH makes me stop and get to the point, too, but he doesn't want to hear the rest.

The tissue on fire thing is absolutely hilarious -- and could happen in my house, too! I wonder about a story that was on the news yesterday, in relation to this. A dispatcher was in trouble over a 911 call, where the guy said, "my car kind of caught on fire, and my girlfriend caught on fire, too," and she asked, "is your girlfriend still on fire," and he said "no," and she laughed. I wonder if she's used to stories being told backward like this?

I have clearly found my people.

Oh! the weird names reminded me: Ds had a bunch of imaginary friends when he was little. Their names were Secada, Fichael ... darn I forget the rest! Anyway, he would tell these great stories about all of their adventures ... Sometimes Fichael in particular would get way out of hand and DS would have to talk him into being more sensible. He also worked at an imaginary place called Figinzga. He also told me all about his "previous life" before he came to DH and me (which was actually a little sad - he was poor and his mom's name was "Ping," they were in India and were Indian, he would get in trouble for sneaking more food at night, etc... But he grew up and had two daughters (told em their names as well but I forget them))

His imagination was wild!

I especially miss the stories about Fichael - that kid was a character!

Just wait until they start getting report cards. And writing checks and using credit cards :lol:

pbear

DD still meows to espress pleasure and growls under the opposite circumstances.

I have gradually weaned her doing it outside the home but have expressly told her that is entirely fine around us AT home.

Fun thread!

My son is very safety conscious. My older daughter had a group of friends over, my son wanted to try her stilts, but he had to get his helmet first. He can't watch if another person is doing something that he thinks is dangerous.

He is also obsessed with puns, some of which are pretty funny. Mostly not, though... my daughter says I have ruined him by laughing at his not funny puns. I can't help it, he has such an earnest delivery.

How did you end up with my daughters? DD12 now dresses somewhat more conventionally, but DD10 still likes to dress in her own unique style, particularly since she learned to sew well enough to make many of her own clothes. I've got some great pictures of the two of them.

OK - I resisted but have to join in the fun. My DD's quirks are all about creative imaginative play.

- When DD was 3 or 4 she started to have "kids". The main one was a daughter named Sunflower. By the time she was through she had almost 100 of them. Such mischief makers they were too! I had to listen closely to assure myself she was doing all the voices in their conversations herself and she wasn't becoming psychotic or something.

- She created an entire city that had existed in my belly before she was born. It became very complex - infrastructure, institutions of higher education, mass transit. All in my belly! Apparently she and Marilyn Monroe were good friends before she was born. They met at a bus stop, struck up a conversation and the friendship just grew from there.

- She goes all-the-way with any idea, game, imagining, etc. A friend was interested in starting a Ghostbuster business and she was on the lookout for ghosts for him to bust WAY after he was over busting himself. After seeing Dee Snyder from Twisted Sister on tv she decided to put together her own band made of all 7 year old girls so she could call it Twisted Brother. A lot of interest at first but when the other kids realized she really meant they should perform - poof - no more members of her band. Right now she is really into fairies - building fairy houses in the woods, chanting to entice them, building a home where they can be comfortable once she catches one, etc.

- Her first grade classmates decided that she was the real life Fancy Nancy. A self-proclaimed "fashionista" who uses really big words. I'm not sure what those kids told their parents because that year every single mom from her class attended her birthday party. They just HAD to meet this kid, all with big smiles and sparkling eyes as they said it.

- She has decided that she has "columns" so that she can still have dessert even if she is too full to finish her dinner. "My dinner column has gone down and my dessert column has come up."

And of course nothing can be thrown away. "But Mom I can make something out of this!" Yeah because there are no more paper disposable cups. You HAVE to rinse out and keep the smashed up one from Subway...

And maybe her most noticeable quirk is her dancing. If she hears music she dances. She spins, twirls, leaps. And she doesn't care one bit if people are watching. Reactions have ranged from expressions of "What the ---" to cheers and applause from hundreds of onlookers.

In our family (from my grandfather, actually), that is known as the "pie space" -- it's a wedge-shaped spot that is always reserved for a piece of pie, after everything else is full. It can be filled with ice cream, to my kids' relief.