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

My DS spent 10 minutes looking deeply into DH's and my eyes during his first 12 hours home from the hospital. Of course I just assumed that was because I was following what I had read about if one keeps the room lights dim, that babies can see better.

It was heavely anyway!

Both our boys were also active and holding their heads up in the hospital. This seemed interesting, but didn't really register as GT to me with either boy until I started frequenting this forum and discovered that it is a pretty sure sign of GTness...

With DS7, the first time I knew he was more than just a little bright was when he was about 8mos. old and was banging his Hot Wheels car on the wall.

I said "no," and he stopped immediately. He thought for a second (thumb in his mouth!), changed hands and banged again. I said "no." He again sucked his thumb the way he did when he was studying something, and this time rolled it on the wall. Another "no." Changed hands and rolled on wall. "No." Banged on the floor with one hand and then the other...two more "no" responses.

Finally he rolled the car on the floor. I said, "Yes!" and he never again pounded the car or rolled it on the wall. It was amazing to watch!

I've had people talk about this scene as his "testing" me, as if this was perfectly normal toddler behavior. But it was utterly clear to me even at the time that what he was doing was--without language!--reasoning out the rule and its limits. As if that level of logic in an 8mo. is not amazing enough, he then followed the rule perfectly from that point on!

Discipline has always been unbelievably simple with DS7, provided he's not hungry or overtired.

DS4 has been trickier to ID. He was a very verbal kid quite early on--before 1yo, he spoke in paragraphs! And he was always physically precocious (which I attribute to having to keep up with big bro!). And of course, there are his OEs, which are legendary! But there was never anything definitive, never any moment like that one I had with DS7 where I thought, "Oh, this kid is really, REALLY smart! "

Really, the first moment was probably just the past couple of weeks with the math stuff. And even then, I doubt myself about it...

(Yes, let me have it, LMom and 'Neato! I already know what you're going to say!!! :p )

Well, we couldn't always understand his paragraphs...

In retrospect - on his 4th morning in this world, Mr W lifted his head, looked right at us, and smiled. ( Doesn't every preemie kid do this? )

We first knew he was different when we started comparing him to the kids of our coworkers. At 3 months he was way ahead of kids a year or more older in terms of looking at things and exploring the world with his eyes as well as smiling at and engaging other people.

I have series of photos of him when he was 5m2w sitting in front of the TV. He alternately laughs, sighs, is surprised, and then thoughtful. Near the end, he props himself up on his hands. The last picture has him looking at the camera with a wide-eyed questioning look. It was about the same time that another mom said that, "He looks like a little boy, not a baby."

While he is no doubt bright, IMHO his best quality is his willingness to smile and bring joy to others. He loves to smile at other people.

Mr W will stand in the middle of the room, lift a hand, and talk for 5 minutes. We cannot usually understand anything he says.

I call them his campaign speeches.

too funny! DS9 had an exersaucer thing that he insisted in using starting when he was 4 months old ... we called it his "office" 'cause he would wave his phone around, and make fax noises and TALK.

One of mine is diagonal in her official hospital photo, because she kept rolling over (yes, the day she was born) and out of range of the fixed camera.

I love the baby stories!

Back to the question of the first thing we noticed that was different. I know I already answered the question but we did have signs before she was born.

I would crash hard in bed and go into a deep sleep never to wake up until the next morning, but one night I crashed but woke up around 2 AM to find my DH tapping on my belly. I almost said some silly comment to him and then I felt DD tap the rhythm back. I was in shock but said nothing and waited for him to do another beat which he changed up and she in turn changed to match. That was it ... I freaked out and said did you feel that? DH just laughed and said sure, she has been doing that for weeks during our 'play time' while you are asleep.

Katelyn'sM om, That is amazing and a little scary!

My kids were odd in the fact that neither one ever crawled or tried to crawl.

We lived in a small apartment and then a small townhouse when they were born, so there were always pieces of furniture or baby equipment nearby to pull themselves up. Actually, I thought it was a strange trait in my daughter, but she was so light (17 lbs at one year) that it made sense to me. When our much larger son (33 lbs at one year) developed exactly the same, we were surprised.

wow delbows, talk about a chunk. I bet he was/is a cutie pie and a half. My DD was always in the 90 to 95% on the growth chart for everything, but at 2 1/2 she is 32 lbs. People assume she is 3 or 4 b/c she is so tall.

And yes, a little scary, but clearly has rhythm. We take her to the local music shop and she goes to town on the drums. The salespeople are always amazed by her abilities.