Hello
Just a quick question. I don't know much about milestones and haven't really checked whether she's on track, but comparred to other toddlers her age, I wonder if she's advanced. I really do wonder...and if so, do I just give her the same toys for her age range?
I don't think she's at all gifted, as I have heard kids at 19 / 20 months (she'll be 20 months tomorrow) know their alphabet and can talk in sentances, and she can't do that.
But she does surprise me. She walked late - but was actually crawling at five months and climbing up stairs at 10 months. She could walk really early too but point blank refused, using her knees instead until she got walking perfected.
She is now months and walks like an adult up and down stairs if she has a banister / hand to hold on to. She can also negotiate them herself if she wants.
She can draw and say the word spiral (the spiral isn't perfect, but it does go round and in concentric circles) and she can draw and say circle (again non perfect)
She fetches things like a bottle I've not used for ages and says 'bubbles' and she's right - it was an old party bottle of bubbles, then shouts 'pop' when she bursts them.
She recognises and can say hexegon, rectangle, square, circle, rhombus, diamond etc after showing her just once and can do a tricky wooden puzzle with tricky shapes in them meant for a three year old (again first time) same with duplo bricks - made a tower with two red, then two yellow, then three red and then three yellow bricks - they all have a pattern to them, never just random. If you put the wrong colour on, 'she says 'no' and takes it off and puts the right sequence of colour in its place.
She reads all the time, though doesn't know what she's reading - but always picks an adult book on steam trains (the square!). She loves books, and now fills in the gaps whereever I stop on her books. She can say things like sausages, bees, clouds, bus, car catapiller and butterfly, daisy, dandelion etc ect and again, recognises them out and about. She can see a spider in its web and start singing insy wincy spider at it. She does all the relevant sound affects when necessary, e.g sees a bee and then buzzes, sees a dog and says 'woof woof', but also knows snake, zebra, elephant, rhino, tiger (and knows where their tails, ears, paws etc and all of her own body parts are too and is beginning to name them all too)
She knows lots of random worlds like sausages and when shes lost something she shrugs her shoulders and says 'where is it' and when looking for someone, she makes the sounds (but can't quite say the worlds properly, for 'where are you?)
She saw my mum use a shoe horn the other day, we walked into the hall and she was trying to put her own shoe on using a the same sho horn. She can brush her own teeth. She takes people their shoes and puts them on their feet, while taking off her own socks and literally sniffing her own feet and says 'stinks and cheese'. I DID NOT teach her that - I may add, though is hilarious!
She's able to draw really well. Dots, lines, circles, curves, etc etc and spends ages and ages doing so and also looking through her old drawings with intent concentration. She can throw and catch a large ball.
It's just little things, I'm sure other kids do it to and parents all marvel at it. Just wondered if she was ahead for her age. Just curious really.
The other day in the car I saw her raise one finger at a time and count to five. Going up steps, she counts to ten (though the words aren't that clear she makes the right sounds 'un, twoo, tee, ah, seven, six (sometimes a bit muddled, etc). At my mums, she watched my sister play tiddly-winks with two buttons and copied her correctly first time.
She makes all the animal sounds correctly, and buzzes when she sees a bee, goes 'bruuum' and shouts car when she sees a car etc, and sings wheels on the bus when she sees a bus etc. When I say I'm tired, she says 'shlepp' meaning 'sleep' then makes the sound of snoring.
Oh, last thing. She understands almost everything I say and can follow pretty complex instructions, like 'go into your sandpit and sit on your bottom, then bury your stone.'
If I say 'clean your hands and mouth and wash your tummy', she'll do it.
If I say 'go and find the remote control and switch the television off' she'll do that too. Seems to understand everything.
What surprised me the other day was, she was in the lounge on her own, I was in the kitchen and she was looking for her music CD. I thought, 'shell be fine for a minute. I came back in and she had put the CD in the player and pressed play and was listening to her own CD, which she had selected. I showed her how to do this once, but that's it! I didn't know she knew how to put it in, and find play on her own!
It was my mums idea to post here as she thinks she's bright, I think she is too, but don't know and feel a bit of a prat for writing this post to be honest - like one of those 'oh I do hope my child is clever' kind of mums. I'm just very curious about where she is.
Thanks!