Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Precocious climbing, anyone?

Both my kids walked early: 8-9 months. They crawled--they didn't skip that developmental step--but they didn't crawl for more than 2 or 3 months, maybe ages 3-6 mos. They "cruised" (walking by holding on to furniture or people) for a couple of months, and then they walked. It all seemed really fast to me.

DS4 was a climber, but DS7 wasn't. Honestly, I think he was too sensible to risk his neck that way. He definitely had the physical capability, but he was much more aware of the dangers than most kids older than he would have been. DS4 is a bit of a daredevil, so he didn't care about the risks. DH often tells him when he does something risky that hurts him: "If you're going to be dumb, you have to be tough." It actually seems to have helped cut down on the incidents of risky behavior, believe it or not. (Not *my* parenting style, but if it works...)

On a related note: both kids held their heads up pretty much from birth. The nurses and my parents noticed it with both kids. DS7 was exhausted from the tortured of our induced labor and delivery, and he slept for a day. But once he woke up, he held his big ol' head up in a wobbly fashion. It was kind of freaky. He didn't always have good control, and he often very nearly dislocated my jaw with his battering ram head! DS4 had better control. (Or maybe I was more accustomed to avoiding the accidental assaults? Not sure...it does seem like he had better control.) DS4 has always seemed more physically advanced by a narrow margin and DS7 always seemed more intellectually advanced by a sizeable margin.

IMHO, I think physical precocity can indicate GTness if it is part of a general state of advanced behaviors. I don't think we can isolate one behavior--like climbing--and say that it indicates GTness. But if lots of stuff happens earlier than normal, it's probably a sign that something's going on.

DS6 was my earliest walker at 12mo, DS4 was 13mo and DD2 didn't walk until 15mo (she was too busy climbing and crawling got her to the next "mountain" just as quickly).

DS6 is a "Talker", driven to explore the world through communication.
DS4 is a "Thinker", driven to logically understand the world.
DD2 is a "Doer", driven to learn through physical exploration and experimentation.

They all explore and understand things from different perspectives, they ask different questions based on those perspective and what they want to know, and usually they all eventually end up in the same place by taking completely different routes.

An interesting aside- my early walker/climber is very visual and though she was diagnosed with mild myopia (near-sightedness) at age six, she is eight now and her eyes have gotten much, much worse. I was so upset when we came home from her eye exam last week, I said to my husband, "What does it mean to be visually oriented and not be able to see?" He was quick to remind me that he is almost legally blind in one eye and is also a visual person... the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

This is exactly what I was wondering. There's so much conflicting information out there, even anecdotally from this thread. Cognitive abilities aside, we have been working hard for the past year to accommodate her physical drive.

I do recall her putting her feet on my lap to stand as she leaned on my chest when she was 2 WEEKS old. Thought that was odd. How physical strength at birth relates to intelligence later on is a mystery to me. Please enlighten me if you can.

When I have read lists of "Is my young child gifted?", I have often seen early gross motor skill development as a trait. However, my 5yo child was very late in almost every milestone - rolling over, sitting up, she started crawling when other babies started walking, and walked very late. Many of our visits with the dr. had conversations like "if she doesn't do x by next time, we might have to ...". At 2, she was slow to learn what her sister had learned at that age, so we thought she was of average intelligence. At the time, I was so relieved that she was going to miss the Kindergarten cutoff. When she turned 3, we discovered that she couldn't see well at all, and her world changed almost overnight with new glasses. Now I can't keep up with her curiosity/intensity, I can't wait to have her tested, and wonder what will happen when she goes to Kindergarten as an almost 6yo next year.

My ds5 is a voracious climber.

He climbed out of his pushchair, even while strapped in at six months. He climbed as soon as he could crawl. He is very very physically strong and agile. He scares kids that are years older with his climbing.

He ran up and down a balance beam at tumble tots at eigteen months. He scares the living daylights out of everyone at the park. He does trolley acrobatics at sainsburys and can do somersaults,head stands and handstands. He is scary. I always thought that it was related to intelligence.

He runs too. He easily outruns me, which is why i hold his wrist, not his hand.
He never walked, he ran at ten months and has not looked back since. He does laps at home and sometimes I take him out and make him lots of laps just to wear him out.

He swings, he runs, he climbs and he talks!

Once, when he was about eigteen months and in a rear facing car seat I was driving my mother. He was chatting away and commented on something that lead me to turn around. He had climbed out the car seat and was sitting on the rear parcel shelf. I delayed putting him in a car seat that he can undo as he just climbs out. Another time I had left him in the car seat, with a harness to fetch somethimg from my house. As I came out the house I saw him in the garden. He had climbed out and into the front seat so he could get out, thus rendering child locks useless. He climbs everything everywhere and cannot be left alone. He has climbed walls out of gardens.

Exhausting

I'm glad i have a little cautious kid - some of these stories are scary!

My DS4 was early in the 1st year milestones, except crawling and walking. He was average on those. I think he delayed crawling because he could get wherever he wanted really fast by rolling. He tried walking just before he turned one. He made it about 4 steps, fell, and didn't try again until he was 14 months. Then he walked with no falls like he'd been doing it forever. DS was always the cautious one - he didn't jump up with 2 feet until 3.5. He never really liked his tricycle, he won't try a bike, and he doesn't like his scooter (though a very stable one) because he couldn't figure it out right away. I think he just started doing the playground climbing walls at age 4. But he's an excellent mini golf player, and loves to run.

I love you.

We have the same child. Too bad we're a continent and pond apart, or we could get them together fo a play date.

So scary to find him out of his car seat! Yikes! I'm ROTFLMAO!

Actually, I believe I have read that this counts as "crawling," as does scooting around on rear or belly. All those forms of locomotion require coordination of a certain level that is similar to crawling.

I think you do have to watch for right-left coordination issues in these kids, because a kid who never does anything that requires coordinated right-left movement may have trouble reading. (Not a problem for yours!) But I think a creative kid who figures out an effective way to get from here to there doesn't get dinged for doing so.

At 7m Mr W stopped using his boppy seat when I caught him hanging by his hands off the counter while wearing it.

At 5m he figured out how to unlock the strap on the changing station. I heard "click" and then he was rolling off it.

He fiddles with the release button on his car seat all the time, but it requires more pressure than he can create to unlock it. We had to get a new one because of this.

This carseat has the highest pressure release and a 6-point harness he cannot get out of.

http://www.skjp.com/products/skjp_radian_80.php