Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Early Milestones - what do they mean?

Dd is a preemie. She was slightly delayed till she was 13
month old. But once she took off, she really did take off. However, her eyes shone the minute she was out and continue to this day.

i'll second the motivation thing - our little nutjob rolled over on her 2nd day of life, sat up unassisted somewhere around 4 mos and walked on the first day she ever stood (7 mos). she has always been massively cranky right before a big physical/mental leap - and then would calm down as soon as she mastered whatever it was. for a long time, i thought she was just seriously Type A.

and this is the flakiest, so take it with a grain of salt. i am self-employed - so as i got closer to my due date, i told my clients i'd be available until Feb 1 for regular work, and then day-to-day for quick turnaround jobs only after that. the entire pregnancy i kept saying "not till Feb 1, ok, buddy?" out loud - to my belly. the evening of Feb 1, i shut down my computer at 9pm, made myself dinner and tucked myself in bed. 5 minutes later, i was in labour.

i know it's probably just a very big coincidence - but sometimes it is very hard not to look back on everything and think that she might have been able to understand language, even before birth. i do rather yammer on a lot, as y'all probably know!

Thanks Aquinas. I think this answers my question in the way I was wondering about. I appreciate everyone's anecdotal evidence, though I was looking for the bigger picture. I know that there is a huge range of normal and no one experience proves the rule. I just wondered what the connection was in Ruff LOG with these early very physical traits and intelligence. But it clicks for me hearing that intelligence can, but not always, leads these kids to physically seek more. Thanks.

Ha ha, I love it! Were you also keeping your belly tuned into what day it was? Jk. While I don't subscribe to your child understanding what day to come, I certainly think your body understands that you are ready to relax and that your subconscious has a strong ability to influence your body functions.
As for my own ds, he is strong willed, and sat early right at 4, crawled early at 5, but then walked average just before 12. Looking back, I see how this reflects his temperment more. He is cautious with heights especially, and in physical things ie bike riding, very cautious until he feels confident that he won't fall. He wants to be sure of himself before he tries. Sitting or crawling wouldn't have had that same danger.

hee phey - well, i certainly do talk to myself out loud a lot - since there's no one else around! but yes - i'm really sure my body was much more relaxed knowing i'd finally reached the day i promised.

that completely makes sense about your bean's personality, too - not wanting to walk until he was sure. that seems quite sensible, given how far away the ground suddenly gets when you're that small!

Anytime! I just happened to be reading the sections in Ruf and Gross' books a few days ago that address your question.

Well, can't resist taking his bait. Dd DYS 11 was perhaps mildly advanced to pretty average in terms of early physical milestones. I can't even really comment on ds, because his early months were such a fog for me. I will further say that Ruf's levels were not helpful except as the merest guide. According to Ruf, dd is MG. According to all the tests, she is EG/PG. I get annoyed and snippy when I see the certainty which Ruf claims for her levels.

Our DD8 was tracking moving objects with her eyes in the delivery room, and lifted her head for the first time before we could take her home. The baby development book got thrown in the trash.

Other than crawling/walking, she hit all the other milestones early, too. And crawling/walking were a special case, because we lived in a tiny apartment until she was 13 months old, and kept ourselves and her toys immediately at hand. There wasn't anywhere she needed/wanted to go. Then we moved into a larger place, which included a sizable play room for her, and she went from walking to running within a week. She never crawled until after, when she heard us remarking about how she never crawled before she walked, and she wanted to know what this "crawl" thing meant.

She continues to be advanced athletically at 8, so we're not seeing the phenomenon reported in the OP.

My DS9 was also one of those very, very alert babies.. watching people the day after he was born, and raising his head up to look around. I got told off by a nurse for not "supporting his head"! I was like - what am I supposed to to? Restrain him from moving it? lol. He wasn't particularly advanced in any other physical regard.. sat at 5 months, walked at 11 months.. right within normal range. He did start talking a little early and then his vocabulary absolutely exploded around 1 year. By the time he was 18 months I had to stop counting the words he knew, because it had gotten up over 250 and seemed silly.

Aww. I remember my little babies holding their little heads up. My youngest, though, was incredibly strong. My husband was holding him while looking out the window, and bubs had his one day old head up and turned it to look out, too. That freaked me out a little. My eldest could hold his head up, but not turn it. Both babies were incredibly aware and were looking around at visitors; the nurses at each birth commented that they had never seen a baby so aware. I remember feeling relieved, as both babies had slightly traumatic entrances so I was happy that they weren't affected in any way