Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion You know you're parenting a gifted child when...

your 6 year old's alter ego - a fairy named Daniela - can have a 15 minute phone conversation with your mother and then ask if Grammy wants to talk to DD now or is she too tired from their exciting conversation to talk to her. Then when you get the phone back your mother says "wow, no wonder you can't find any other 6 year olds for playmates - I can barely keep up with her train of thought!"

agreed!!! LOL

ditto.

you need to video tape that!

Haha, I wish I had! It was hilarious to watch. It seemed like the definition of asynchrony.

DS is a completely iron-willed child who doesn't do anything before the moment he's ready (gee, I resemble that). Someday soon-ish he'll suddenly decide on a whim that it's his moment to give up diapers forever, and he will. He did exactly the same thing with eating, reading, walking...you name it...seemingly zero interest followed by fluency. He seems to be almost exclusively intrinsically motivated, and I rather like that about him. My mother has an opportunity to laugh because she has certainly BTDT with me, her probably only-for-a-reason child.

Aquinas, my son and yours have so much in common. Just wanted to give you a heads up that one day before he was 3 (I can't remember how much before), he said he decided he was going to potty train. We went ahead and switched to underwear that day and dutifully stayed in the house for 3 days doing what we thought was a good potty training method, but the kid never had any accidents. Same when we finally left the house. He was just ready. He made up his mind and that was that. Hope you have the same experience (without the utter sensory hatred of the super loud hand dryers that appear in some bathrooms).

He did the same with weaning shortly after 3. Much much harder on me, I assure you.

We had an unstable living situation for almost a year when my daughter was 2/3. So we had trouble on the potty training front besides the fact that she was just not interested. However, by 3 she was bringing me the stuff to change her and changing her own peepee pullup.

He was so startled by a loud hand drier and flushing toilets on one shopping trip at a local book store about 6 months ago that, whenever we're in public, he now asks two questions:
1. Where is the washroom?
2. Does it have loud toilets or hand driers?

The noise is just too much for him. I always make sure to change him in stand-alone handicapped washrooms for that reason.

Re: weaning--nursing past 3 is terrific!!! DS is still a major lactivore, nursing (I'd guess) at least 6-8 times in 24 hours. Probably half of his nutrition is still my milk. I'm hoping for such a gradual weaning that he (and I) hardly notice when he ultimately chooses to stop. I'm a bit of a sentimentalist when it comes to our special nursing bond, so I appreciate your comment about weaning being harder on you. I will be both fiercely proud of him for making his own decision when he's ready and wistful (and probably a tad tearful in private with DH) about a chapter of our life closing.

Oh blissful oxytocin;
life-giving love amid tender snuggles!
My heart outside my body.

My youngest was not eager to toilet train when we wanted him to do so. He needed to be potty trained before he was 3 because his new school required it. We decided that he was ready when he started critiquing our diaper changing skills and making requests like, "More wipes, please!" Bribery helped.

I love that self-possession, Portia!

We've had a potty for almost a year now because DS showed all the signs of readiness--without actual interest. I think there's something to be said for respecting children's internal timelines, like you and SAHM have done with your sons.

On a frivolous note, DS is so tall and slim that I don't think even the smallest underwear would have fit him much before 3 anyway!

My first tip-off that DW's sense of normal child development was somewhat askew came when she matter-of-factly announced that DD would be fully potty trained before her 2nd birthday. I started to object on the grounds that all children develop in their own way and 2 is a pretty ambitious goal, but she cut me off, saying she'd already done it with her nephews, she knew what she was doing, and there will be no excuses.

DW began the process at ~15mos, when she noticed DD hiding behind the couch to mess her diapers. By about 18mos DD was getting very consistent with using the potty, with occasional accidents, when we took a trip to the beach. Upon arrival DD urgently informed us of her need to use the restroom, and DW and I discovered we'd both neglected to bring her toilet seat. Knowing that the public bathrooms would be so unsanitary that you could catch amoebic dysentery just by glancing in their general direction, so holding her up on those seats was not an option, we apologized profusely and gave her permission to use her diaper... against her even more strenuous objections.

She finally yielded to nature, I cleaned her up, and we went on to a lovely day at the beach. DD moved on from the incident almost immediately... or so we thought at the time. We found out later she can hold a grudge, as she willfully refused to have anything to do with the potty for ~3 months after that incident.

And yet, DW's seemingly unreasonable goal was still met, as DD was running around in underwear (and loving it) before her 2nd birthday.