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I didnt notice that my 2 oldest girls may have been ahead till my son came along.
My girls now 5 and 4 both knew thier letters, shapes (more than circle, square, rectangle and triangle), and could count to 5 in english and spanish by 2 years old. They both were talking in complete sentences by 18 months and were understandable.
My son came along and didnt really talk till a week before his 2nd birthday. He said enough words but didnt put them together and refused to use them most of the time. The doctor told me he was normal. I asked what about my girls, they were average right? No but it was ok.
My son now can count to 10 only skipping the number 2, count backwards from 5. Still doesnt know his alphabet in english but can get to J in French, even though I say the English alphabet more often. He is able to name lots of stuff and speaks really well if not exceptionally for his age.
BUT I dont really care just waiting on an average kid, thats all I ever asked for but I think I am going to be stuck with 4 exceptional kids. My baby who is 18 months talks in complete sentences to me, not anyone else. She is understandable when she does decide to talk to someone else. She is interested in the potty and likes sitting on it. We will see what they all do.
All my kids have been shown shapes, colors and thier letters and numbers from birth, they are read to and talked to as though they will understand also from birth. But there is a wide difference in what they can do when.

trinaninaphoenix- that is really interesting about how they were so different from each other. I have also heard that boys in general do develop speech a bit later than girls. DD potty trained at 20 months and I actually would recommend doing it if your 18 month old is interested. We waited to 20 months only because we were moving and traveling before then. We did the three days no diapers or anything. Then loose-fitting pants after that (no underwear for 3 months due to the fact they can forget and think they are in diapers). Good luck!

Thanks. Yes it is. I am always amazed by thier differences, even growing up with the same rules and regulations. Thanks for the advice on potty training. My son decided he doesnt want diapers anymore so we will see how he does. He already had one accident today.

FWIW, my DD liked sitting on the potty chair at 18mos. She is very much an all-or-nothing perfectionist, though, and wasn't out of diapers until a few days before she turned 3. (That would be 2 days before the start of preschool, which she'd been told wouldn't take her in diapers.)

That was my 4 year old. We potty trained for 2 years and right before she turned 3 she decided she didnt need diapers anymore. My 5 year old was so much easier though.

FWIW, my wife had been a caregiver for a lot of kids in her family before we even had ours, and when DD arrived she declared, "She will be fully potty trained before she's 2 years old." I tried to reason against setting such a hard date, but this was not negotiable, as far as she was concerned. She'd done it before, and she'd do it again.

DD started sitting on the potty at about 14-15 months, and by 18 months, she was wearing pull-up diapers and using the toilet habitually. Then we took her to the beach. She had to poo when we got there, and we realized we had forgotten to bring her toilet ring. Sitting on the disgusting public toilet bare-bottomed was not an option, so we apologized profusely to her and asked her to use her diaper. To say she was upset with this development would be putting it mildly, but eventually she complied, I cleaned her up promptly, and we all went on to an otherwise enjoyable day at the beach.

She punished us, though. She went on toilet strike for the next three months or so.

My 2 year old is fully potty trained. He did it in 3 days.

lol! sometimes I STILL have to yell at my 8yo to go to the bathroom! She had accidents all through K and at least until halfway through first! I know that sounds crazy, but we have noticed it seems to be because she is so stubborn and if she is "into" something, she just doesn't want to leave it! hahahah!
DD4.5, on the other hand...well, now I honestly can't remember. I put my kids in pull ups and start taking them into the bathroom as soon as they can walk and I'm sure she was dressing herself around 2. Can it really have been 2 years? Maybe...She just told us one day she wasn't going to wear pull ups any more and she didn't...