Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Venting - I feel like I'm going out of my mind!!!!

Sympathy! I can't say btdt - I went back to our photos from that age to remind me what Colin was into at that age, and was struck by the big smile in every photo; we were lucky enough to have the kind of giftie who shows it by having an extremely long attention span and being happy to self-entertain from very young. All the same, maybe some things we did might strike a chord. Things he loved:

- his "baby nest", like this one:
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/baby-activities/galt-baby-nest/134571/
although we took the top parts off it about this age. It was great for the not-quite mobile age, because he could lean forwards or backwards on it, practise climbing out of it, rotate round it etc. At a later stage wearing as a hat was more fun, and keeping toys in it. This was definitely one of the baby items we got most use out of.

- playing (or "playing"!) the piano, strapped into his high chair

- his bead maze

- playing with one of those big inflatable exercise balls - being bounced on it, rolling it around, using it as a musical instrument, sitting it in his baby nest and knocking it out, etc.

- babyswim classes

I also second the recommendation to try baby sign - we did it rather half-heartedly and Colin never really caught on, but it works wonders for many babies and sounds as though it might be really useful in your case.

LOL Isnt it weird to have 6mo. old talking and understanding you ...i know it freaks me out ...

so im right there with you except thankfully i have kids with super early motor skills.. my youngest DD is 7mo. she started
saying "BABA" at 3 1/2mo.
saying "DADA" at 4mo.
sitting alone at 4mo.
could get into sitting position alone at 4 1/2mo.
crawling around by 4 1/2mo. to 5mo.
pulling up by 5 1/2mo.
started saying "I DID IT", cruising and standing alone by 6mo. now at 7mo. (she will be 7mo. in 2 days) says "I did it" "All Done" "Get it" "MAMA" "DADA" "BABA" and very often repeats words right after i say them like "Thank you" and others...

so far shes been my earlyest and she really scares me from birth she seemeed to command control of herself and her own enviroment she crawls all over the house she climbs up on her brothers bed she spends all day exporing and playing she fusses when bored and you have to find new interesting toys for her (having 3 young kids we have plenty of toys)

she is the youngest of 3 my oldest is 4yrs now but was also just as early at motor skill and started talking at 8mo. (didnt even say dada till 8mo.) saying daddy and tickle and cheese exe. she had a fasinastion with books from 4mo. on and would sit for hours turning the pages by herself on the floor and point and cooing to her self at 8-9mo. she would bring me big stackes of books and make me read them over and over while she sat in my lap

my middle child hes 2.5yrs now was more average on motor skills (crawled at 7mo. walked at 10mo.) but he said his first word at 5mo. "Daddy" and was talking in 3-5 word sentences at 13mo. old


anyways right now life is crazy Goodluck!!!


EDIT: LOL I forgot to add my 7mo. old has had an awfull temper from birth and gets very very angry if things dont go her way ...

another idea maybe try and help her work on her motor skills if you can im not sure what shes capable of at this point but if she can stand hold her hands and let her do it a lot hold her hands and help her take steps to "walk" around the faster she gets mobile the less stressfull life will be (when she does get mobile child proof extremely well she will be into EVERYTHING!!!!)

Along the lines of signing, we used Signing Time (www.signingtime.com).

onewinterbaby, we skipped tummy time (gasp! I know, I'm such a rebel) because DD 2.5 yrs hated it and we found out it was for neck strength. DD was born with a curiously strong neck and I remember her standing up against me when she was 2 weeks old. Sounds like your DD is strong, too. Heck, if she's already practicing standing and walking she's holding her head up "against gravity."

http://www.devdelay.org/newsletter/articles/html/273-tummy-time-and-crawling.html

What about letting her also explore some of the media around the house, like picking up puffed rice cereal, or sifting her hands through flour or a basket full of colored socks?

Also, in our case, DD wanted me almost exclusively until she was nearly 24 months old - maybe 22ish. We think she bonded completely and utterly, and then she launched. I remember her going across the street to explore the neighbor's house and holding up her hand like a traffic cop, saying, "No Mama, NO. I do this alone." She is extremely independent and confident now.

Babies are hardwired to want their Mama. It's exhausting but I hope you can wait it out and let her use you for trust building a little while longer. In my house, I took care of the baby and DH took care of me and everything else. I still felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown, but thank goodness at least DH understood what parenting this little empress was like. None of our friends could relate to us.

Good luck, and what an extraordinary child you must have.

Thank you to all for the suggestions. I found a leap pad which helps a bit, she finds it amusing. Probably the best thing I have discovered so far is Bill Nye. I thought about it and realized the episode I was in was very interesting. She LOVES it! It has now replaced pooh bear.

we went to the aquarium...bad idea. She wanted in the water.... The problem with a curious, gt child is at 6 months, you can't explain why they can't go in the water with the animals. Oh my temper, temper, temper. She was so happy about being there but she was frustrated because she wanted to swim,sooo she did a fake coughing thing trying to cry. haha, it was humorous, now that I look back on it, but it was a terrible time while we were there.

She's quite a handful...but don't get me wrong, I enjoy every second I have with her, it just gets frustrating sometimes, ok, well a lot of the times.

Does your dd need a playmate, mine is the same way (also 6mos)!

I would second baby signing. DD can do 5-6 signs and it has already really helped with fussiness. We have a few toys that help. She has a child's computer from V-tech and also a book that plays songs and has buttons on it (also from v-tech) that she really enjoys.

We try introducing lots of new things to her, even stuff that might not typically be baby toys. For instance, I had a recorder at home that I played for her a bit on and then let her play with it afterwards and she loved it!

Also, it helps if she's around other kids, have you tried joining a new mom's support group?

Oh Lord- your child sounds a lot similar to mine at that age- really WANTED TO WALK!! So mad that he couldn't do what we were doing, and frustrated with his lack of motor skills. That being said, he walked well at 8 mos, so get your running shoes ready!!

I've BTDT- it's so hard, and my heart goes out to you. It does pass and get easier in someways. For example, once he was 14 mos, he had fits because I wouldn't let him climb up a ladder with Daddy's drill to fix the ceiling lights- LOL.

High energy and spirited gifted kids are exhausting- a joy, to be sure, but exhausting. NEVER boring, though!!

At that age DD enjoyed taking walks, going to the park to play. She first was just sitting in the baby swing watching other kids then on the ground playing with the dirt. She also really enjoy playing with other kids her age or older. She was able to sit unassisted so it helped as she would sit long time next to full box of toys and pick them out individually and observe. She liked to help me build towers from blocks and braking them. She also had few favorite books and they all needed to have flaps to look under. Both soft and cardboard books were good.