Giftedness

I recently received a developmental e-mail from BabyCenter and this particular article really grabbed my attention. I have always believed Lucas to be extremely advanced, but this really made me proud to be his mama!

Signs of giftedness in a preschooler

Your 2- to 4-year-old may be gifted if he:

•Has a specific talent, such as artistic ability or an unusual facility for numbers. For example, children who draw unusually realistic pictures or who can manipulate numbers in their head may be gifted.

For a mere 25 months old, Lucas loves to draw, paint, color, you name it. He has amazing hand eye coordination and is beginning to draw his shapes entirely on his own. He has mastered the circle! As for numbers, he can count 1-10 in English and 1-6 in Spanish. He is always counting.

•Reaches developmental milestones well ahead of peers.

Since he was an infant, he has always been well ahead of the game! Except for rolling over...but then again, have you seen how chunky my little monkey was?! He knows most all of his shapes, colors, animals, transportation's, bugs, foods, letters, etc. I am beginning to run out of basic things to teach him so I recently began introducing the states. After one session, he could identify roughly 5 states, and he can spin a globe around correctly point out Alaska!

•Has advanced language development, such as an extensive vocabulary or the ability to speak in sentences much earlier than other children his age.

Anyone who has been around my son has been blown away at his verbal abilities. By his first birthday, he had 18 solid words in his vocabulary and it has skyrocketed each week. Now at 25 months, he is speaking in sentences and can clearly ask/identify anything he chooses. His word choices are elaborate and he even uses correct tenses...something that never seizes to amaze me. Recently while Levi was doing homework, Lucas went up to him and said, "Daddy- go outside, please! Come on, follow me. Come on. Book down on table. Let's go!" And as he was staring at the fish tank one evening I asked him what he was looking at. His response was "My fishies. Chromis. Daddy got them for me at fishie store!"

•Is relentlessly curious and never seems to stop asking questions.

I never knew that the "WHY" question could begin this early, but its a frequent word in this house. Along with "Where'd ____ go?" "Whatcha doing mama" "Read a story?" and more. He needs to know what everyone is doing, and why it works.

•Is unusually active, though not hyperactive. While hyperactive children often have a short attention span, gifted children can concentrate on one task for long periods of time and are passionate about their interests.

Lucas has an uncanny ability to stick to one task. He will read books, do puzzles, flip through his flashcards, or even play with his trains for nearly half an hour at a time. He is very focused and patient and is surprisingly intricate with his art. This boy has patients!

•Has a vivid imagination. Gifted children often create a vast and intricate network of imaginary friends with whom they become very involved.

A vivid imagination is definitely something this child does not lack. Honestly,I think his imagination is too complex for him to comprehend. (I believe that is why he went through his nightmare stage a while bag). He has mastered the pretend play and enjoys acting out or recreating events. He loves his mini-kitchen where he prepares meals and serves food (while reminding everyone to blow because it's still hot!) and he puts on his helmet, sits on his four-wheeler, pretends to put on a seat buckle (with hand motions and sound effects) while telling everyone to be safe. He'll drive around the living room, yell "Oh no. The wheel's stuck in the mud!" and jump down to fix his ride. It's almost too cute to watch! And we all know his love of pretend fishing...this boy sure can act!

•Is able to memorize facts easily and can recall arcane information that he learns from television shows, movies, or books.

Dora. Oh my goodness, have we mentioned Dora? She is his absolute favorite. After just a few episodes he started counting and even talking in Spanish. CRAZY! He'll ask for a specific episode, in which he will tell me what happens in the plot. He learned his entire alphabet when he was 20 months or so by watching the Leap Frog Letter Factory. He also began identifying his shapes on his own from a baby Einstein video we let him watch at around a year. His love of books is real as we can see by his re-telling of the stories. He enjoys flipping back through the pages and telling me what happens. It truly blows my mind at how well he remembers things. (Even those that we haven't read in quite a while.)Not only is his comprehension level well above many two and three year olds, his association skills are as well. But most importantly...this kid does not forget things! He brings up events and people that he hasn't seen in quite a while...especially my brother Brian and the traumatic fallen stop sign event across the street. He also talks about swimming at the beach ALL THE TIME. Does he really remember being in Hawaii this time last year?


Doing daycare has really opened my eyes. He has always been well ahead of the other children his same age and is developmentally comparable to the three and half year old in my care.

I love being a stay at home mother constantly pushing and encouraging my child to grow. Levi and I spoke a bit about it yesterday and I am leaning towards homeschooling. I have mixed emotions about the matter and feel that social growth is just as important, so I need to figure everything out soon. All I know is that Lucas is eager and willing to learn, so I want to push him now while he's still young. This boy has amazing potential and I cannot wait to see where life takes him! Well, yes I can. If I had it my way he'd stop growing entirely =)