When did you know...

[a27mom]

Neither of my girls are in the PG range or anything. So there wasn't a lot of astonishing things.

But with my oldest my first inkling she was bright was when my ped asked how many words she had at her 18 month checkup. I looked at him astonished and said "I am supposed to count them?" He laughed and said he just wanted to know if she had at least 10. Out of interest I started counting when we got home and stopped once I reached 100.

My youngest is probably a bit more advanced than my oldest. I distinctly remember when my youngest at 18 months was having an argument in the car with my oldest, 38 months. It occurred to me that the fact that they were arguing in clear multiple sentences at those ages was a little out of the ordinary.

[EndOfOrdinary]

At two he told me to turn so we could go to the Zoo (his favorite place in the world). I about rear ended the car in front of me. We were on the opposite end of town, where he would not have been able to have known the usual route. He read the exit sign. I was a single mom, working full time and in school full time, so I was not able to read to him. His full time nanny was Malay teaching her infant and my son in complete Mandarin immersion, so he was not seeing English books with her.

When I mentioned it to my mother that night, she was astounded. It hadn't even occurred to me that somewhere around 85% of this child's day was spent with Yen hearing Mandarin, reading Mandarin, and watching Mandarin TV. He had been in that environment from 11 months onward. I saw him at night for a bit, and on weekends, but he was mainly exposed to a language other than English. (Yes, I know having my child in almost ten solid hours of care when he was that young is horrid. I was doing the best I could. It was rough for both of us.)

Within less than six months he had learned all 1000 of Fry's words (I printed off a list) and was actively using phonics (still don't quite know where he learned it). When he was reading fluently by three, through pretty much his own instruction, I knew we were in trouble.

[acurtis75]

 

DD was 11 months old, and my parents were in town for an ACS meeting at the Peabody hotel in Memphis. We were in the gift shop, which, given that it's the Peabody, was full of ducks. My mother asked DD if she liked the ducks. DD pointed to the biggest stuffed duck in the store and said, quite clearly "I like THAT duck!". Mind you, DD was born prematurely and has always been small for her age, so she looked even younger than she was. The poor clerk behind the counter seemed about to faint.

 

 

 

My parents loved to tell people when I was a child that I went from constantly babbling to speaking in sentences. They say I talked and babbled and was difficult to understand but my first words were "the dog is outside" which I said to them while pointing to our dog out the window. I can't remember how old I was but when dd started talking very early they repeated that to everyone constantly.

[acurtis75]

About three months after birth.  People would stop me in the stores. By that time I was laughing uproariously everytime I saw the ToysRUs commercial about 'sleeping like a baby'.

 

I'm really enjoying reading all of these because it brings back memories. I just discussed this issue with dh a few months ago. When dd9 was a baby this happened all the time in stores and I thought it was ridiculous. I remember rolling my eyes and thinking people were crazy. How could you tell in a store that a 3 month old is "alert" or "smart" or "advanced". 

 

With dd who just turned 1, it has been happening again. I am less likely to dismiss it now thanks to the boards. 

[sunnyday]

Here was an entry from my journal when DS was 4 weeks old: "A lady in the waiting room had a friend's one month baby with her. He was much squidgier than [DS] (held or in his carseat he was a little mushball unlike my little man who stretched his whole length even asleep and peered around when awake) and much quieter -- the little mewls and squeaks he made were so foreign as my guy made demanding "uh!" sounds or just screamed his head off when boob was not forthcoming."

[ThoughtfulMama]

I clearly remember my first aha moment with DS.  We were at a park when he was around 20 months old and he was pointing at a sign and running his finger over the letters and asking me what each one was.  So I figured maybe he wanted to learn the letters.  I got out the 26 books of letters, which I thought my ILs had purchased way too young, and intended to do a letter of the week thing with him.  My goal was just to keep it relaxed and informal.  Instead the little stinker forced us to practice letters with him everyday and learned the whole alphabet in about 3 days.  Looking back there were signs of differentness much earlier, but I didn't really know what average looked like.

 

I joke (though am serious) that I am completely against being a flashcard mom, but somehow I ended up with a flashcard kid.

 

Now little-sis is the same age and is teaching herself the letters and numbers.  We already had the stuff around for her, so she didn't need to beg me.  I'm still trying to be relaxed about it with both of them, but they are an intense couple of kids.

 

[zaichiki]

When our oldest was 3, a neighbor (who happened to be the former long-time Kindergarten principal and was now in charge of administering Kindergarten readiness screenings for our town) asked to practice administering the new K screening test on him.  She had him for about 45 minutes and came out of the room raving about how brilliant he was and how he was more than ready for Kindergarten.  At first I just thought she was nuts: he didn't do anything out of the ordinary and I was certainly NOT sending my 3 year old to school.  

 

Looking back, we come from a high IQ family, filled with high IQ kids (I didn't realize it when I was growing up or even at the time), so he really didn't stand out that much in my opinion.  After the neighbor's response, I really didn't think about him being gifted.  I just thought she was nuts.  Dh thought she was just trying to be nice -- complimentary -- and would say that about any child.  

 

The next year, when ds taught himself to read and was devouring Harry Potter books at 5 (and scoured the adult section of the library for WWII books the year after that), I figured it out.  He could read anything he wanted and he had a very advanced vocabulary for his age.  We started homeschooling him b/c we knew that the local Kindergartens, that taught beginning phonics, would be a problem for him.  He never did like to be "bored" or do "busywork" and would react badly to the K situations in our town.  After homeschooling at his own pace for a few years it was more obvious to us.  We had heard about a school for gifted kids that required an IQ score on the application, and we decided to give it a try.  The psychologist gave us a "2 for the price of 1" special so we tested both of our oldest.  Dh was completely flabbergasted when they both had IQs over 130.  He "didn't believe" in giftedness and didn't think his kids were different or impressive in any way.  We had an adjustment period at that point.

 

We haven't had the other two kids tested, but our 8 year old picked up The Hobbit on his own at 6 and read it over and over for weeks.  He is a lot like is older brother in enough ways that I have no trouble assuming he also has a high IQ.

 

The littlest one?  I have no idea.  I would assume that her IQ can't be too far away from that of her siblings' based on what I have read about siblings and IQ scores.  She hasn't done anything out of the ordinary as far as I can tell.  But she has plenty of time.  No rush.  :)

 

[shawthorne44]

Looking back I think it was when I got a genuine smile of recognition when the doctor first handed her to me and I said Hello.  I don't think anyone believed me though.  

DD was born in the 3 percentile for height and weight, so when strangers talked about bright she was, I would tell them her age.  I didn't think her bright enough for strangers to exclaim over.  I figured that she looked younger than she was, and she was a happy delightful child.  Eventually people's expression started saying "So" when I told them her age. 

We were very poor when she was a baby, and her toys were mostly my old ones, and freecycle ones.  In her bath toys was an incomplete letter set.  She would ask me the names of the letters while in the bath.  At 9 months, she picked up a U, turned it on its side and said "C"  (or vice-versa)

 

I do agree with the previous poster that those milestone lists are useless.  What I needed was a list of milestones and then the ages.  In the "what to expect" books, when she would do something, I would think "Ok, this has to be a milestone" and it wouldn't be there.  Then months later I would read it.  

 

She isn't quite as ahead as some of the kids here.  She is 3 and learning to read.  She knows more than she lets on.  When we ask her to push the button that says "Done" she will do so.  I suspect that she thinks we won't read to her as much.

[Erin]

Honestly, their dad and I have always been fairly sure both kids were unusually bright.  And Buck has always reminded me SOOO strongly of my younger brother (who is profoundly gifted)...

 

When Buck was 4 and 5, he loved to tell the children's librarian all about things like the hydraulics on the tractor, how the windmill worked, and how he was going to build his own round baler and run it behind the lawn mower.  :)  
Thelma was great.  My kids both adored her.  But she knew Buck was quite bright.  She always told me she hoped she continued to know him when he was an adult because she wanted to know what he was going to invent.