I don't know if our experience fits into the question ColinsMum ponders but it was clear from a very early age that DD was going to be an early talker. She was producing vocals from birth and even said 'hi' at two weeks. I just considered it stretching the vocals and not really a word. But right before turning 3 months she worked on elephant a syllable at a time and strung it together to form the word. By 6 months she was talking in complete sentences (mainly 2 and 3 word structures) and had a big vocabulary for such a young age. She even understood the proper pronouns to use and when. I stopped counting her words way before she turned a year because she had so many and by 15 months she was talking in 10+ complicated sentences.
Back when she was 15 months to around 3 there was such a huge gap between her and other kids her age that we always got the dropped jaws and the questions. Granted this was when DD was willing to talk in public and most of the time she was tight lipped, but when she did the scene that transpired was intense. Probably why she kept it to herself for the most part. But even as a 3 yr old I still get the questions, just not as often.
