Another question. There was a question whether your child was so interested in a topic that they "researched" it and learned as much as possible about it. They are talking about 3 and 4 year olds.
Here is what I think they meant. My son goes through what we call "obsessions". He picks up a topic and learns as much as he can about it. He talks about it all the time, reads about it, asks questions, writes about it, draws maps/graphs/pictures, wants us to look up this or that. Basically 50% (if not more) of his free time evolves around it. This lasts a few months and then the topic fades away and something else will eventually come up. Within those few months he learns enormous amount of information. It makes him really happy. As a matter of fact he is pretty miserable when he is done with one topic, but hasn't found a new one yet.
He is 5 now, but he did it when he was 3 and 4 (even 2). He was into reading, geography, space and such.
I think Kriston's son does something similar.
I think that's what they mean, too, LMom. And, yes, DS6 has gone from one all-consuming obession to another his whole life. Each has lasted a year or more--a lifetime for a 2 or 3yo!--and each time he positively devoted his life to that particular obsession.
For example: at 2, while potty training, DS6 would have us read the "Consumer Reports" auto edition to him so that he could memorize the make and model of every car on the road. This was definitely NOT hothousing! Believe me, I did NOT want to sit in the bathroom and read a car magazine aloud to him over and over and over! LOL! But it was his favorite thing in the world to do. His grandparents even gave him his own copy so that he could carry it around and study the pictures wherever he went. A trip through a parking lot was better than an amusement park for this kid, and he walked down the rows saying, "Chevy Malibu...Audi 4000...Volkswagen Rabbit..." From a mile away (literally), he could ID a moving car correctly from behind. I often joked that if we were in a hit-and-run accident, I'd have my 2yo ID the car for me because I was clueless and he was an EXPERT!
He did the same sort of thing with colors ("No, Mommy, that's Cornflower Blue, not Sky Blue!"), NASCAR (even though NO ONE ELSE likes NASCAR!), and construction vehicles. To this day I know the difference between a tracked excavator and a backhoe because of my son's obsession. My DH has a relative who owns a contruction company, and he and my DS spent over an hour discussing the equipment. The guy said he'd never had such an in-depth conversation about his equipment with anyone so knowledgeable, regardless of age. Our DS was not yet 2 at the time.
He drew pictures, asked questions, pretended, and wanted to read only about his obsession. If you have a kid who does this, there's no doubt about it!
I'd say Disney princesses could count, but only if it goes to this sort of extreme. There's a big difference between liking Disney princesses and the GT-style obsession!
