I'm pretty new here.. I've been reading this board for a few weeks and see that maybe this is what I have been looking for.
A little background: I have a wonderful little 10 month old daughter who appears to be gifted (both my husband and I were labeled as gifted throughout school, for what that's worth). She has always been quite advanced in every area. Socially, she had a social smile from day 2 on, belly laughs at 1 month, and was always extremely alert as a baby. Physically she was standing at 2 months (the dr chastised me for this, so I said YOU try telling her not to stand!), cruising at 5 months, walking at 8.5 months. Communication, she signed her first sign at 5 months, said her first verbal word at 6 months and now has over 50 signs and 20 words that she uses almost daily. She often uses them in more than 2 word combinations, for example, at 7 months she told daddy using a mixture of speaking and sign "dada, kitty is under the bed". This was something she recalled after 20 minutes of distraction and playing. She loves books and can recognize a few words that she sees often (cat, dog, mama, clap, etc).
Anyway, I could go on and on, that's my point. I have NO ONE to talk to. For the last 5 years while my husband and I were trying have our daughter, I clapped and cheered and cried right along with all of our friends in their children's accomplishments. Now I have my baby and I feel like I can't talk to them about anything! Our relationships feel very strained because I don't feel like I can talk to them about anything my daughter is up to, but she is my whole life, what more do I have to talk about?
The biggest thing right now that drove me to post here is that our daughter decided she wanted to potty train herself over the last few weeks. We bought a potty for future use and she took an immediate interest in it and "got it" right away and has been using it ever since. Most moms get to brag about their child's potty accomplishments, but I don't. I feel like I have to hide it because most of my friends 2.5 + year olds haven't started yet (though totally developmentally appropriate for them). When my daughter asks for potty at their houses and is successful, I feel uncomfortable.
I know there are a lot of people that think that it is too soon to label an infant, but I think at this point, I don't know where an infant like her would fit other than in the gifted world. I just want to feel like a "normal" mom, being able to feel proud and say it out loud, or just being able to converse about silly things she is doing or a new thing she has learned. Am I in the right place?
I also need help in other ways, of course, but there are other posts for that. :-D Thanks SO much for reading this far, I think I feel better already!
