Hi! I am happy for find this forum!
My daughter is 2.5 and thought he ped mentioned her developed being well ahead of her peers at her 12 months check up, it just now getting to point where as a parent I am feeling quite isolated and anxious about it all.
She's had phonetic awareness for months, can read, has exceptional attention span (if she is interested, she will attend for more than an hour), slightly obsessed with outer space and maps, counts to 30, can write most of her upper and lower case letters about one 1/2 an inch to an inch in size, memorizes her books in within 2-3 readings, and what looks the craziest to me is her detailed drawing. She's been drawing figures of people and animals for a year now. Her people have glasses, eye brows, fingers and toes, etc. She enjoys drawing scenes of fish being chased by sharks, cats sitting in trees. They look a lot like her 5.5 year old cousin's drawings. She learned about the potty in one day after I just told her she could use it instead of diapers (20 months old) - even for naps and night time.
Luckily she is also the happiest and sweetest kid. I'm seriously lucky.
But, I'm increasingly anxious. The friends of her playmates are noticing something is different. They think I'm at home drilling her, and tell me she needs more "play." I don't know how to tell them what she's been up to without sounding like "that mom." I can't say "oh my daughter is advanced that I'm afraid" to other people -- what a problem to have, right?
He's amazing with her. She wants to be with older kids, but they call her a baby. Family members ask her to do things (read, write, spell, whatever) like it is a party trick. She's also showing some perfectionist before that worries me. I encourage mess and experimentation.
I'm generally just looking for a little confirmation that I'm not crazy - I want her to be happy and enjoy all of her areas of interest as much as she wants. I'd just like to know how to interact with other parents without feeling like I have to play down my girl's interest and ability -- it seems so unfair and I never want her to think her gifts aren't worth celebrating.
Thanks for listening and I look forward to learning form your experiences!
Jessica
