I'm new to this site and I'm still trying to decide if my dd2 is gifted. Here is my list of her recent milestones/accomplishments. Can anyone give me any insight on any of this? She just seems so smart - I amazed all the time by what she is learning but I am her mother so I know I am biased.
1 year, 5 months: Talking in short sentences � able to communicate her thoughts and needs verbally.
1 year, 8 months: Dresses herself completely, choosing what to wear and putting everything on herself including socks and shoes.
1 year, 10 months: Insists on wearing ds5�s clothes. She knows what clothes are his based on color and style because they are boy clothes � not whether she�s seen him wear them before. If it�s pink or purple or it�s a dress, she doesn�t want to wear it.
2 years:
*Sings: Twinkle, Twinkle; Row, Row, Row your Boat; Rock a Bye Baby getting most words correct but sometimes repeats lines
*Makes up her own songs and sings them again at a later time (Row your boat, row your boat, be nice to your brother!)
*Talks in grammatically correct complete sentences almost all the time
*If she says something incorrectly, I repeat it back to her using the correct word and she repeats it back correctly and seems to understand and take note of what she just learned.
*Is able to locate objects using multiple descriptions (for example, your baby is in the living room on the floor on the other side of the couch)
*Insists on rocking herself and singing at bedtime. She sits in rocking chair and rocks while she sings the songs I used to sing to her. I have to sit on the floor but she does take song requests. She then must climb into the crib herself or she throws a fit.
*Insists on doing virtually everything herself: climbing into mini-van, climbing into car seat, getting into booster chair (these take a lot of strength and determination on her part because she has to pull herself up using her upper body without getting her knee up because of her size), taking off and putting on toothpaste lid, taking off and putting on juice lid, turning off the TV, turning off the light, buckles her booster seat. If someone does it for her, we have to un-do it so she can re-do it or she throws a fit.
*Can find toys, etc. that are in the house because she remembers where she last saw them.
2 years, 2 months:
*Able to carry on conversations with adults and older children.
*Knows most of her colors
*Counts to 9 easily
*Has counted to 13 in the past, occasionally skipping a number
*Sings ABCs easily (first time singing ABCs was at 1 year, 8 months)
*Stopped wanting to sing the songs she sang every night 2 months ago (we stopped the singing and rocking when she moved out of the crib since it was such an ordeal � now I miss having her sing to me!)
*Helps me unload the dishwasher without being asked � hands me dishes to put away.
*Has very mild interest in dolls/babies � more interested in exploring environment and playing with Sam and his toys.
*Has started asking me to identify some letters for her. Up until this time, she has not had much interest in letters.
*Draws in circular motion and says �look, I drew a circle!�
*Draws an oval and tells me it's an oval.
*Not much interest in actually using the potty anymore however she changes her pull-up on her own, without me asking her, when it�s wet (who needs a potty when you�re wearing a portable toilet and can change it on your own?)
And if she is gifted, how should I parent any differently? Has anyone read "Parent's guide to raising a gifted toddler: Recognizing and developing the potential of your child from birth to five years?" Is that a good place to start? Thanks!
I almost forgot my favorite thing she does... at age 2, we got all the Bill Martin/Eric Carle books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear. I would do the answer part like "I see a Blue Heron looking at me." She would then do the question part on the next page... "Blue Heron, Blue Heron, what do you see?" - we did all 4 books like this and she could name all the animals on the final page (like macaroni penguin, water buffalo, blue sea turtle, etc. - not your basic animals like cow and pig). Then I realized we could make a game out of it and I could name anything in the room - "I see a table looking at me." and she answered with "Table, table, what do you see?" She thought that was hilarious. Sorry for the long post - I just had to share that since no one else I know with small children would believe me.
