Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Your perception of other same age kids?

I've just noticed that other children seem to sleep. In public even! Our son was born at 10:30pm and I recall the nurse telling us that we'd get a good night's sleep, since all baby's sleep for a long time after they're born. Well, I believe he was awake the entire first night, sucking desperately on our fingers and anything else he could find. The next morning, one of the nurses said, "Uh, we don't usually recommend this, but you might want to get that kid a soother." Our son wasn't as bad as Cricket2's daughter (wow. that must have been so hard for you!) but it was rough nonetheless. Like Agent99, we weren't able to put him down for many months until we found 'the miracle swing'. This was the only thing we could get him to nap in (until it broke after a year). For the first 6 months of his life, he would only sleep in my arms at night and woke to nurse every 1-3 hours. I didn't get more than 3 hours of consecutive sleep during these first six months, which was difficult as I was trying work at the same time. Naps disappeared altogether shortly after the age of two and at age three, he still doesn't sleep through the night consistently. It's been a struggle. So, we're always amazed when other children nap, sleep or pass out in public! Our son just seems to have trouble shutting off his brain and certainly doesn't want to miss anything.

Ha! DS2.75yrs would *only* sleep in public from about 18 mos. I think he, like me, needed enough stimulation to *keep him from thinking*. I usually fall asleep with the radio on, or else I get so bored I start thinking BIG THOUGHTS and can't sleep & have nightmares when i finally crash

DS2.75mos will sleep anywhere, but he's a ludicrously easy baby.

-Mich

This is definitely true with DS2, he's so different away from home, and he does not trust other adults. Whenever anyone starts talking down to him, he'll give them "that look" and run away.



Aha! So there is a chance of an easy baby... I'm going to need scientific proof to convince my husband that a second baby will be easier, or else there never will be a #2. I figure adopting a toddler is my only hope for having more than one.

LOL.

Mr W was SOOO hard that DW and I were very nervous about the Womb Raider. She is as easy as pie. OTOH she has a huge temper and is very nosy. But way less intense than her brother. AND SHE SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!

SO, there is hope.

I think the thing I noticed most about other kids (and, I confess, sometimes envied) is that they just seemed so much more content with less - and I don't mean stuff. Less questions before they were satisfied with the answer given. Less negotiating over the terms of the deal, whatever it was they were asking for permission to do. Less making up new rules to games to make them harder. Less "pushing" to do something.

My kids, as much as I cherished them and being home with them all day, were often exhausting for me, because their minds were quicker, their needs more intense and their physical endurance longer than mine. I literally have the lowest IQ in the house, and I think as an ungifted mom raising three gifted kids and married to a gifted husband, I often envied other mothers who weren't pushed beyond themselves on a daily basis. I now know that thanks to them, I've grown tremendously in ways I wouldn't have pushed myself, and love each of them dearly, but when they were toddlers, there were days ...

When DD was an infant, it wasn't so much her that looked like an alien creature in public as it was DW and myself. DD was a very easygoing baby overall (apart from the colick in the first three months, and then the aforementioned self-soothing thing) but boredom was the enemy. So she'd be in her baby carrier in the grocery cart, and whoever was pushing the cart would be maintaining a CONSTANT one-way conversation with her. Some of it would be describing what we're doing at that moment, and some of it would be random absurdities, for our own consumption and amusement, because it can be pretty exhausting otherwise.

So yeah, we'd be nattering for the entire trip through the store, and drawing looks the whole way.

DD was really easy when it came to naps. We'd notice the signs that she needed a nap and point this out to her. After a while, she started requesting naps on her own. Once we finished the self-soothing thing she still woke up once a night for feedings, but I (DW sleeps like the dead) had those down to a science to where I only had to be up for a couple of minutes; everything was pre-staged and ready to go.

Are girls nosier? DD would rather be hungry than nursing when she hears someone/something.

Boredom has been a topic around here. Some people say babies can't be bored, but with both kids, that seems to have been by far the most common reason for crying. Gashes in the chin cause a little wimpering, but bordom once the blood stops flowing and you're still supposed to sit still for a few minutes. That causes Crying.

DS2mos is my incontrovertable proof that the universe never sends you more than you can handle. The child is zen incarnate. That said, we'd better darned well not try and stay home all day. That's the thing I notice most about my kids and my friend's kids that I'm pretty sure IS real... Mine needed to get out of the house starting at about 1 mo (DS1) and about 6wks (DS2). We just don't have the option of staying home all day. If we do everyone is bored to tears, shrieks, and wails, and tearing each other to peices by about 1pm. 2PM with television shows.

Also, other people leave musueums BEFORE closing time. This seems very alien to me

On continuous discussion with the kid in the cart: We resemble that comment. A lot. I remember I had no voice from about 7mos to about 20 mos with DS1. Just 'cause I had to talk that much. Continuously, all day. From the time he got his first word "Dat?" until he had enough words to talk BACK.

And, actually, I think there IS scientific proof. I'd look under "birth order..."

-Mich

My second seemed a lot easier than my intense first until he hit about 3. (He was a really lovely 2yo.) Other people now perceive him as rather challenging. He has his moments, but is still a cinch compared to DD.

Both kids sleep well and in fact, DD requires a LOT of sleep. BTW, we sleeptrained DD but it didn't really work for DS--the "easy" one. (??)

Not to be Debbie Downer, but numero Dos was far more intense and challenging than our eldest. That's why there's no numero tres!

Ds came out of the womb ALL BOY. He'd run across the dining room and the family room at high speed and perform a full superman leap onto dd who was playing with her dolls, minding her own business. He started this as soon as he could walk. By 18 months of age he had found and removed every child lock with a toy screwdriver - thanks Bob The Builder.

He hit, he bit, he scratched, he had temper tantrums and like his sister, he rarely slept. He had a sensory issue. He was allergic to a gazillion things. And he had a severe speech disorder resulting in us understanding him 17% of the time.

We were exhausted. But it was worth it. He was also cuddly, sweet and oh so loving.
And he's now a mature 12 year old who has good leadership qualities and is friendly and kind. And after years of therapy, private and public, we rarely can't understand him.

Wasn't sure we would ever get to this point. And now sometimes I miss that chubby, bossy 3 year old.