Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion The first thing.....What was it?

Just got off my first official YS phonecall, sort of a meet and greet. Anyway the coordinator asked me a question and I would be curious to hear the answers of all of you.

"What was the first thing you noticed that your child did that you realized was different? Not neccesarily gifted, just different?

For me the response is easy, my DS now 6 never put a thing in his mouth. Happily crawled all over the place, but never picked anything up to taste.

What's yours???

Great question! But to answer it honestly I was in complete denial and other people were commenting on DD and her abilities and being my first and only child I really did not have a guide to go by.

Our official first act would have to be when she was born or hatched since she was a c-section baby. The doctor who was the head of the OBGYN department freaked out and had never seen anything like it. She lifted her head and helped delivery herself.

But for me she was never a 'baby'. She never wanted to be held like a baby but rather sat up. I remember saying on many occasions that I didn't get a baby. Everyone else had one but not me. Typical newborn stuff I never experienced. Sleeping all the time. Nope not my DD. Stuff like that.

I never thought of either one of my kids as GT so I couldn't even nail anything for my 2nd grade son in the early years. We used to joke he was smart, but really had no clue about the real world until kindergaren. His younger sister is 4 and I've never really thought of her as being gifted or not. I've been at home with her since her birth and she is happy and thriving and learning.

This week I'm watching an old video of my daughter at 3 months. She was laying on my husband's lap "talking" to her daddy. She said her own name at least 3 times. I watched it like 10X. I had rough recoveries from both my pregnancies and I'm sure I never even noticed it at the time. She was almost a month early. Anyway, gave me pause. Maybe our younger kid is a little gifted too.

great question!

I was thinking about this just the other day. We have pictures of DS9 when he was 12 weeks old sitting on my sister's lap and for all appearances, reading a book. I mean, he was holding it correctly and he had this totally absorbed open mouthed expression...

At the same visit, we went to a junior high basketball game and he wouldn't sit down, but rather STOOD on my lap and WATCHED the entire game with enthusiastic interest. I can still see that one in my mind's eye.

and then, of course, we have the picture of him at 6 months old keyboarding while sitting on his grandmother's lap. Same total concentration.

We just thought he was cute!

For DS6, he was 10 days old when he focused intently on this doll that he wanted, reached out, and grabbed it. Of course, he DID put it in his mouth, but I remember thinking "oh no! not ANOTHER one!" Then, I took pictures!

DS7 giggled when he was 1 month old. Whenever there were babies around and if they were crying, he would giggle. Hmm....

He also never put things in his mouth. If we sat him up (about 7 months old) and put toys around him, he would look at them intensely, but never go for it.

He is our first. We never thought these were unusual signs.

First Dottie: we love reading your posts and by no means think of you as a thread hog so keep them coming!

Second: put things in the mouth. My DD never really put things in her mouth. She might have in the infancy stage but by the time she was 4 mths old she definitely didn't. Is this giftedness? Also when is it a concern when a child eats dirt and leaves, etc?

If we're just talking "different" and not "GT" then the first thing I actually noticed was that DS was super-super clingy. Like permanently attached. To me. For four years. I didn't know that all babies weren't like that... (LOL)

The first thing I should have noticed but didn't was that while he was attached, he was always ALWAYS completely engaged and interacting both with me and everyone else. Not that he was always happy with them (LOL) but he didn't miss a single thing including every mood change, subtle cue, tone of voice, etc. That's the thing I've noticed about other babies that has, so far, been very nearly diagnostic. I'm not saying that a not-so-engaged baby can't be GT, (triple negative! ha! LOL) but that a completely "there" baby has always proved to be smarter-than-the-average-bear by the time s/he gets to toddler or preschool age.

DD10 was very alert as an infant. She was observing everything around her from day 1, it seemed. I thought it was normal until I had my first "playgroup" and observed all the other sleepy babies while DD made full eye contact with all the adults. After that, her early talking and vocabulary that made me think she was a bit different.

DS4 has the math/engineering type brain and he has been organizing the world as long as I can remember. I don't know his LOG, but he is very different from DD. The first time I really thought of his GT'ness, he had organized all his toy cars by color and size (40-50 of them) on the floor. This was 20 months age, I think. We have since observed the puzzle obsession and now legos.

Jen

Sorry Dottie - Just because you early enteranced her and she's had to work to get A's doesn't mean that she isn't gifted. Golly - you know how strict your district is about IQ cutoffs - and she made it! And she keeps up with all the classmates in the gifted program who are up to 18months older. She's Gifted. Really.

((humor alert)) Would a Tattoo do the trick?

It may be that for your family growing up, MG is taken to be completely normal and expected. That would be my guess as to 'why.'


Hog away Dottie Dearest!
Love and More Love,
Grinity

My ds rolled over twice before we left the hospital after he was born.