I love reading about all these interests!

My little guy is 3.5 and has had a number of passions. When he was 2.5 he was really into musical instruments, especially brass. He basically memorized all the pictures and diagrams in several books about orchestral instruments. In addition to knowing all the major Western instruments, he could tell you their major body parts (tuning peg, water key, piston valve, etc.). He even memorized the typical seating chart of an orchestra. He would make random remarks at the dinner table such as, "Piccolo trumpets have four piston values. But trumpets only have three." This has abated somewhat, but he's still especially fascinated with trombones and can't wait until he's old enough to take lessons.

Now at 3.5, his interests include: Clocks and calendars; the solar system and the planets; and baseball. He understands the rules of baseball better than I do and certainly has a larger vocabulary of baseball terms.

(I should say, we don't know if he's gifted or not (no testing), but I found my way here because I suspect that he is.)