Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Infant Alertness

I have such clear memories of people trying to tell me "the more they sleep they more they sleep, just get that child to nap more and they will sleep better at night". Um, NO! Our middle child (who has actually tested higher than #1 so far) did sleep better at night with more day sleep than #1 or #3, and she was just generally easier to get to sleep. But she has no sensory issues or other issues and she still slept about 2-3 hrs less per 24hrs than my friend's kids.

I have this fantastic photo of my DS at about 7 months at a mother's group outing to the zoo. The children on each side of him are six weeks each side of his birthdya, and are lying back, chilled in there prams. My DS, on the other hand is sitting bolt upright, laughing with his whole face alive. Everyone who knows my Ds who sees it comments that it just captures his personality so much

My Gt denial was based with my older one on that the reason she spoke so well and was ahead was because she did not sleep and thus had more time to learn... Coupled with learning ASL first I had no idea she was gifted! I did not even know there was such a term. In some ways being in denial is more comfortable.

When my DS10 was a infant I read whole Doctor Suess books, like Fish out of WAter, to him and he loved it. I thought it was very strange when my DD infant wasn't as interested in books. Then I found out that was normal for an infant.

Commenting is bringing back a cute memory. I would give my infant daughter a choice of a few board books (and DH would roll his eyes) but, when she touche a book I would just say "good choice". I loved that fun.

Have fun new Mommies. Write everything down so you can go back to it later.

Too funny! I have an 11-day-old who has great head control, is a real social smile, and has been reaching out to touch things since birth.

I am wondering where you all have been reading about traits of gifted babies. Is there a good online article somewhere?

hypatia

There are lotsd of debate about all of these, but as an exhausted mother with fairly intense babies, I get some comfort that I am not alone here:

http://giftedkids.about.com/od/younggiftedchildren/qt/infant_signs.htm
http://giftedkids.about.com/od/younggiftedchildren/qt/infants.htm

I have the BEST picture of my mom reading to my 2 month old son. He is so fully and completely engrossed in the story. I wish I could attach it here! (He's 4 now) Happy memories!

DS3 rolled over from tummy to back before he was 3 mo old, and I thought that was normal. DD2mo can bear weight on legs since she was 1 mo old, and I thought that is normal as well.

LOL, I think our norms are a little off.

Nice thread to bump.

When DW's water was broken, the nurse noted a green color to it which indicated DD had ingested and defecated placental fluids, and all that fluid would have to be cleaned out of her sinuses and lungs before she was allowed to take her first breath, to prevent a potentially lethal lung infection. Therefore, DW was instructed to stop pushing once DD's head was projecting outward, allow DD's nose and lungs to be vacuumed, and then proceed with the delivery once instructed.

Apparently, DD did not appreciate the treatment she was getting, and she popped her own shoulder out, and started pushing with her free hand against DW's body. The delivery staff was freaked to say the least. DW was injured in the process.

The vacuuming continued against her cries, so she was in a pretty miserable state when they finally wrapped her up and placed her in my arms. I started rocking her and said her name. She immediately stopped crying, locked eyes with me, and tracked my relative motion with her eyes... all things the baby development book we'd been reading said she could not do.

Later that day in the hospital room, DD started fussing in her bassinet while DW was taking a nap. I took DD out and laid her on my chest, belly down. She picked up her head, looked around until she located DW, stared for a minute, then settled back down to take a nap. Again, the book said she couldn't do that. We promptly threw away the book.

Within the first couple months, we tried out one of those Baby Einstein videos. It had a bunch of 15-30 second clips of random nothing, and the kid hated it. But put on a show for pre-schoolers, and she'd watch the entire 20 minutes.

Around 3 months, we could no longer dress her without her approval. If we selected an outfit she didn't like, she'd wriggle and squirm while we tried to dress her. We had to hold her up to her closet and let her pick out her own outfits. Likewise, when we went shopping we'd have to hold up anything we were considering, and she'd either seize it (buy) or shove it aside (don't waste your money). She'd make her own choices apart from things we brought her, too, because she'd start leaning out of the cart and reaching out towards something she liked.

At four months we took her to a photography session. Her mom had put her in this dress, and she was sitting up for the photos, fidgeting with her dress. DW kept coming back to DD, putting the dress back to rights, and finally admonished her to stop playing with the dress. Just before the photographer snapped the photo, DD grabbed the bottom of her dress, flipped it up high, and grinned a huge grin. This photo is priceless.

And on, and on...

I love this thread! I'm reminiscing because DD turns 1 at the end of this month. I can't believe I almost have a one year old. *sniff*

I don't know if DD is gifted, but we've had so many of the things mentioned in this thread. Very alert at birth (in-laws called her "the owl") Social smile at 3 weeks, sitting completely alone at 4 months and turning the pages of books and spending 30 minutes at a time concentrating on taking a part this one stacking toy.

By 5-7 months (when she started crawling, then cruising) she was looking at books independently and turning pages the best she could. I remember that when she was three months everyone was constantly shocked that she wasn't a small 6 month old. When she was 4 months we went to her check up and were told she was one of the most advanced 4 month olds they'd ever seen.

She is just about running now (first step at 8 months) and has around 10 words (but doesn't talk much... enjoys babbling using da sound occasionally) and maybe around 15 signs. Her signs just started taking off the other week actually. One day she barely signed and the next she suddenly started signing almost everything in the Signing Time DVD that she loves.

She wants to feed herself with a spoon, tries to brush her own teeth and wants to help dress herself. She has this sock she carries over to me and she makes me put it on her foot over and over again so she can watch the process and figure out how to get it off again. She wants books read a lot over and over, too.

She is playing with her shape sorter (not very accurately, though) and has started doing things like climbing a toy to reach something higher and sneaking behind daddy to grab his controller after he lets her know he doesn't want to see her touching it. From what we can tell she has reached most of the average milestones up to 18 months.

Babyhood went way.too.fast. Seriously. I feel like I had a baby for 3 months. Part of me likes her quick independence, but a part of me is pretty sad. She is still nursing, though, so I'm glad we still have that.