S/O if you have a physical child

[roanna]

Because of the other thread asking for advice I thought I'd just ask if you have a child that was really physical what crazy things did they do at young ages.

 

These may not be crazy to some but considering my first child sat on the floor all day long from 9 months to age 3 doing puzzles quietly my daughter is a bit of a shock to us on a daily basis.

 

About one she was constantly looking for things to climb, ladders leaning on the side of the house, tables etc. At age 2 (she's nearly 3 now) she ran around a paved trail for about a mile straight then later we took her on another trail that was measured at 1.5 miles. On the way home she says, " mom I want to do more running" so got home and ran some more totaling little over 2.5 miles of running. She did not stop and take breaks, she was serious.

 

Now, one of her new things is to line up our library supply of books and jump over them with both feet together, like she's practicing long jumps.

 

We are hoping in the next year we can get her into a gymnastics class because she loves somersaulting on her own. I think she'd do great in a kids running club, but there are none I know around here.

[SKL]

One of my kids is very physical, but she's not the one I consider "gifted." (Who knows what IQ she might have under all those levels of weird.)

 

I took custody when she was 1yo. Before that, I'm told she basically sat in a stroller in front of a TV. She did get around by crawling, but didn't walk until 15mos. It wasn't long before she was running, jumping, walking up & down stairs "frontwards," etc. She learned to pump her own swing at age 2, because she couldn't stand for people to swing her about.

 

I never viewed her as a hurricane tot, though. She was actually pretty calm most of the time. But she loved to be physical, and I did encourage that as I think it's good for development. She had a lot of strength and stamina for her age, beginning around 1.5.

 

As she's gotten older, I've found that she really needs to "blow off steam" in order to keep a reasonably even keel. Also, during transitions, she hops around and has less self-control than usual.

[Harriet Vane]

My son has always been like this. He needs an unbelievable amount of exercise.

 

The day goes better if he gets some serious exercise first thing.

 

He also needs an unbelievable amount of food and protein. You wouldn't think so from looking at him as he is thin and wiry.

[lewelma]

When my older son was 16 months, he RAN 6 MILES on a trail to a river. He never stopped to take a rest. :001_huh: He had learned to walk only 3 months earlier. Later that month, when he was having weight issues, we had a doctor tell us, "just because he can, doesn't mean he should." :rolleyes:

 

For years now, this same ds has walked to work with my dh every day and then back home to start his school work. This is a 1 hour round trip.

 

Ruth in NZ

[KathyBC]

I haven't read any other threads, but have been told my children are physical. My oldest rolled over onto his stomach and inched his way out of his car seat at 4 1/2 months old. (It was on the floor, he wasn't buckled in, I was just using it as a place for him to be, if that makes sense.) He stood before he knew how to sit, so he would pull himself up on something like the coffee table, then let go, fall and hit his head. My husband had to custom make him a little helmet out of styrofoam. Didn't help as much for his face, poor kid. He took his first steps at 7 1/2 months. His head was still out of proportion to his body, so he would run a few steps before he fell.

 

He rode without training wheels at 3yo, went mountain climbing with dh at 7yo (12 hour hike, made it almost to the summit, about 10,000 feet maybe?, his only complaint was the mosquitoes).

[Donna]

My middles ds sat at 3 months, crawled at 5 months, and walked at 9 months. When learning to walk, he hit his head on everything because he took off with steps before he had the balance to not fall. He rode a bike without training wheels at not quite 3 yo. He tied his shoes at 3yo. He climbed everything. He would climb the kitchen chairs and dance on the table at 14 months old.

[NittanyJen]

My brother has two, two weeks apart in age (both adopted).

 

--one day they played "gas station attendant." They filled the tank of his Toyota Tundra to the top with the garden hose.

 

--He was searching for them (these two are never out of eyeline for long even after TSS workers go home) and heard (garage door up) (thud) (giggle) he ran for the garage... Yep, garage door rides. One kid manned the switch, the other would grab the handle and ride the door up to the top, and drop down just before getting caught in the ceiling (age six).

 

--age two, the 'older one' leg in a cast from CP surgery, grabbed brother's keys, out to the garage, hauled himself into my brother's Tundra, and at this point I saw him, but before I could stop him, he put in the keys, keyed in the combination to open the garage door --memorized from watching Daddy do it--threw the Tundra into reverse, and stretched down to the accelerator and backed it out of the garage (these kids are QUICK). I caught him before he made it down the driveway, hampered as he was by the truck's driving height.

 

Yeah, my brother deals with an active set of three like this. His oldest could retire the office computer by age three. The fact that all three qualify for TSS workers individually tells you something about their judgement skills, so he has three that are super bright, super physical, and non-stop interesting to live with.

 

Adorable kids ;)

 

They have a designated parking space at the ER.

[slackermom]

We are also regulars at the ER. It started with the visit after she climbed onto my desk at 8 months and tried to eat the screws from the child-safety equipment I was in the process of installing.

 

DD walked across the room unaided the day she turned 9 months old. 6 weeks later she had mastered the play structure at our local playground. She could climb the stairs on her own, run across the bridge, go down the slide, jump off the bottom of the slide and run back to the base of the ladder while signing "more, more" with her hands.

 

She could go back up and around and down a dozen times without any assistance from me, and I would just watch her go. She got upset if I tried to help her at any point. She was also quite fond of the ladder/pole combo, and would do that endlessly.

 

The other moms looked at us like we were from another planet.

 

When she was one year old, our pediatrician diagnosed DD with "failure to thrive" because she lost weight between the 9 month and 12 month check ups, but she was thriving quite well, I think.

[roanna]

I worried for a bit about my daughter's weight. She is very lean. 99.3% in height but only 60% in weight. The downside is when she got sick she was just bones.

[Joani]

My oldest was like that. He was swimming and diving in the pool before his second birthday, riding a bike without training wheels before his third and competing in triathlons before his fourth. At 14, he still exercises about 3 hours per day.

 

My daughter was more of a gymnast/daredevil. I caught her using our backyard fence as a balance beam when she couldn't have been more than 3.5. Her fearlessness has made her an excellent cheerleader.

[regentrude]

At age 2, my DD hiked up her first mountain, 3 miles round trip. At age 3, she started rock climbing. At age 4, she hiked the highest mountain in Wales, Mt Snowdon. At 12, she did several 14,000 ft high mountains in CO - getting up at 3am and hiking all day.

 

To us, that is entirely normal.

[roanna]

wow, that is awesome! So glad she has someone to do it with.

[La Condessa]

My oldest daughter is a very physical kid. From the time she learned to move under her own power until she was over 2, she was either asleep or in motion (the two exceptions being if she was nursing or restrained, like in a car seat or high chair). At 3 1/2 months she started rolling, and she would roll all the way across the room until she reached an obstacle, then wiggle her body so that she could roll across the room at a different angle. I remember lying on the floor with a stack of picture books, reading to her while she crawled all around and around and over me, back and forth. Once she was weaned, I would sometimes go into her room at night and pick her up, just because I missed holding her. From the day she learned to pull herself up to a stand, she wanted to run. She would pull up, then let go as she raised a foot, and fall flat on her face over and over again. From 10 months on she was running everywhere she went.

 

The magic change happened when she was 2 1/2, and I signed her up for gymnastics. The coach said he'd let her try the normal 45 min. beginners class on trial, since it was for 3- to 5-year-olds, but I couldn't do the Mommy and Me class with her as I had a younger baby. After two weeks there was an assessment for all the younger girls to reorganize the classes where he asked them to attempt a list of skills, and after watching the older kids my daughter was able to do a number of things on her first or second try--like handstands, spiders up the wall, bridges, climbing the rope. So he moved her to the more rigorous class that met for 1 hour two times per week. She loved it, and there was an amazing change in her behavior. Ever since she has had that outlet, she acts like a normal high-energy kid, she runs around and jumps and climbs, but then she can sit down and do something like color afterwards without her body rotating 'round and 'round her paper.

[momtoamiracle]

My son climbed before he walked. At nine months he was climbing everything. I had to put keyed locked on all the doors because, since he was tall, he could unlock the door and go out. He would climb and stand on the windowsills, he climbed into the dryer, he climbed on top of hte washing machine, he would climb on top of the dresser (thankfully it was bolted to the wall) He would climb out of his stroller or pack n play. We had him sleep on a mattres on the floor from 8 months on because we were afraid he would climb out of the crib.

 

He's six now and whereas he doesn't climb as much, he still likes to stand on the sofa arms, jump from chair to sofa...

 

He can run outside for hours and hours. It's really the only way he will sleep through the night, if he gets that kind of exercise. We once drove 24 hours straight to my sister's in Denver and he slept six hours out of the 24. He was two years old at the time.

 

It's challenging to homeschool, since he's in constant motion.

[abbeyej]

My own kids tend more to the puzzle-making side of things. But my baby *sister* -- well, she was super-physical as a small person. She started walking at six months and was running and jumping by 8 months. The church nursery ladies called my mom and asked to move her to the 2-3yo toddler nursery about that time -- they just had no idea what to do with her. We found her actually hanging from the dining room chandelier. One day (she was just past a year old), Mom couldn't find her anywhere in our new house. She was running up and downstairs, panicking that there was some hiding place she hadn't known about. 'Til she heard my sister say, "Hi, Mommy!" from above her head. She was sitting inside the top shelf of built-in floor-to-ceiling book cases.

 

It only continued from there. ;)

 

And so, I offer you a glimpse of the future! (I think S was 16 here...)