Sounds familiar. At that age DD was so easy to reason with and pacified by mental stimulation. She loved conversation, had an endless attention span for any book, and was quick to understand abstract things like colors, reading, and counting. She understood everything. And, she was always making connections. She has always been an observer. I think she takes in her environment and files it away succinctly as to better understand things in the past and experiences to come in the future. It so easily developed then that I just kept exposing her to new things.
I focused on making sure she could entertain herself in imaginative play for long periods of time. I wanted her early childhood to be brimming with unadulterated play. We invested in high-quality, open-ended toys that have payed off ten fold. Personally, I eschewed early learning toys and videos, and at four we still have yet to introduce workbooks and such (I have written this before, and for a while now I have been thinking, 'though I really should.' I know she is ready, but I guess it is just not our style. ) We love going to museums, reading books, and having late night conversations in the dark. The majority of her learning takes place in the car or waiting in line for something.
There is no rush in teaching anything but I do understand the feeling of keeping the beast fed and happy. Our DD really enjoyed rote learning at that age and she seems unscathed by it. She memorized anything. We explored a lot of pre-literacy stuff and she did become a very early reader.
We barely did any kind of number activities, and while she was not that early in math skills, at four she is actually showing more number sense than her second grade cousin. She is having no trouble figuring out what three threes make or four fours. Fractions, negative numbers, division, even/odd numbers--have come really easily to her now. She can mentally calculate addition facts by deduction ("I know 8+8=16 and 8+9 is one more, so 8+9 must be 17" and "8+2=10 and 10+2=12 so 8+4 must be 12) which I think is advanced for even kindergarten so I am thrilled. We really let her figure it out and I think it has payed off. I would have had no idea how to teach this anyway.
She was also never much interested in writing or drawing and has caught up a lot. She still is probably only average in handwriting, but has already started writing out sentences the best she can sounding out words.--It is not amazing, but she has always been behind in writing output, only ever developed a consistent pencil grip a few months ago.
This is all to say, your kid may have strengths and weaknesses and that is OK. It is OK to wait for him to become interested in developing his weaknesses. It is OK to indulge his strengths. Every child has their own timetable. You do not need to worry about what comes next. Your child will lead you. He will surprise you. Stuff will come out of nowhere, trust me.
As far as comparisons, when DD was that age they were so stark. But, she is now four and it is interesting to have seen her peers develop along side her. Unless you listen close, you would not know who spoke first or who now has the larger vocabulary. But, it is easy to notice who never gives up, who is most independent, who is the most outgoing, who never gets frustrated, who is good at making friends, who is most competitive, who always has a smile, who has a huge imagination, etc. They all have strengths.
