I remember looking at the monthly milestone checklists in the What to Expect... books. Ds seemed to hit all the milestones early, but I thought the authors set up "easy" milestones because they wanted parents to feel good about what the children were doing.
When oldest ds, now 9, was a toddler I got a LOT of comments (and awe) from people. Especially strangers. Hubby and I thought people just communicated like that to make small talk. It was just "something you said" to young parents.
When he was 3, our next door neighbor asked if she could do a Kindergarten screening on him. Apparently she was going to be in charge of screening all the town's K-er's for K readiness the next month and convinced me that she just neeeded a guinea pig. Ds impressed her and she gushed while telling me that he was READY for Kindergarten. (Me, scoffing -- What? He's only 3!)Later I saw how she did the test. What kind of silly rubbish was that? Why do they bother??? (More scoffing from me.) Okay... I now better... NOW.
Later that year his sister was born. She was very alert, as he had been, and repeatedly tried to throw herself out of my arms in order to join her older brother in play. She kept trying to look past me -- at him. (I kept getting in her way, apparently, and she was miffed at me.) She was 2 months old. The very next month she was laying on her back on my lap, grabbed my shirt, and pulled herself into the sitting position. Strong kid.
At 18 months she pulled off the diaper and told me she was going to use the potty from now on (no previous attempts at training). She had no accidents and was instantly "potty trained." Okay. I remember thinking that THAT was a bit unusual.
When dd was 3 she walked up to a violin teacher at her big brother's Suzuki school and introduced herself as the woman's new student. Although this particular school usually takes the kids at 4, the teacher was tickled and agreed that dd was ready. During one of her first lessons dd was asked what the violin was made of. Her answer? "Molecules." (I told myself it was because she was listening to her older brother, then 6, and I discuss molecules in his science book.) Great teacher, BTW! Without missing a beat she asked dd "What KIND of molecules?!" We LOVE her!
3 year old dd also built Lego walls and yelled from the other room about the "Mondol hosemen coming!" Her brother had been reading about the Great Wall of China. See, there's always a "reason" they know these things! I still didn't get it.
I broke down and had the two older kids take the WPPSI and WISC IV when they were 4 and 7. Ds was in shock at the results. (I had tried to tell him what I suspected, but he insisted that all mothers thought their children were smart.)
The third child (now 2) doesn't seem to be setting off any alarms, but then, each child has been so totally unique anyway. When he was a year old he was screaming "A!" in the supermarket and pointing behind me as I was in line at the checkout. He was grabbing my face and trying to turn my head. I was a little slow on the uptake -- finally figured out that he was showing me a large letter A in one of the signs hanging from the ceiling. The elderly gentleman behind us in line was very impressed, but I tried to explain it away: "He doesn't even talk yet. His name starts with A." Thought that would help. At this point I had already learned that the two older kids were "gifted" according to those tests.
Littlest ds *is* showing interest in learning to read, pointing to words everywhere, asking what everything says, demanding that I run my finger under the sentences as I read aloud to him... But he's not reading yet. He *does* wake up in the middle of the night to use the toilet (without wetting the bed), but he isn't day-time potty trained yet. He has an extremely active imagination (copying older siblings?). He repeats EVERYTHING everyone says by starting with "he said." This kid never stops talking, but he didn't say his first sentence until after his second birthday. Just another kid in the family... Gifted? Who knows. I decided it doesn't matter.
Smiles,
Kate
