Genius baby or delusional mamma?
The last few days Baby E has taken a nap right at lunch time. It means that the three girls won't all be resting at the same time, but it has the unexpected bonus of giving me time to sit down and eat lunch with the other girls in a relaxed way. I get to focus on them and enjoy the conversation without Baby E's clamoring for food or attention. The girls and I really enjoy that.
Today we ate cream of pea and lettuce soup, which was quite surprisingly good, along with homemade bread. We talked about everything from art projects to chores.
We discussed the idea of a temporary trial of cat ownership. Then we talked about how the girls enjoyed their evening with the babysitter last night. We tried to remember the words to a song on a video the kids watched recently. Finally, we talked about how we'd like to get our house cleaner and more organized so it will be more pleasant to live in and give us more space and time for other things, and how that means we will all have to help more with chores around the house and keeping things neat.
It was a relaxed, cheerful and enjoyable lunch time together.
Just as the older girls were settled in for quiet time, Baby E woke up. Although I was hoping to get a nap, the individual time with her is fun.
Especially after having some time away from the kids the last few days, I'm finding myself really relishing my interactions with them.
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Baby E is not really a cuddler. She'll give me hugs, leaning her head on my shoulder and relaxing into my arms. But, unless she's falling asleep, it only lasts a minute or two. Before long she's squirming to get down or leaning out to look around and get a view of my face.
She is, however, an extremely social little person. As we noticed soon after her birth, eye contact is extremely important to her.
It's obvious that Baby E is a born communicator. She's always communicated volumes with her eyes and facial expressions. That little lift of the eyebrows and the huge grin are her tickets to charm. But now she's increasingly trying to communicate more specifically, and learning to use her voice and hands for that purpose.
At 7 months, Baby E claps, waves, and lifts her arms to be picked up. She communicates very clearly whether she wants to nurse or isn't interested when I'm trying to feed her. When she wants solids she becomes very vocal about it, following our food with her eyes, whole body leaning toward it, mouth open wide. Her way of communicating hunger is a deep-throated, wide-mouthed "aaaah" sound.
She rubs her eyes when she's tired and pats her ear when it hurts. She pushes my hands away when she doesn't want to get dressed--which is most of the time. And she laughs with joy and reaches for a book or toy when someone offers it to her.
The last day or two, though, I'm wondering if we have a genius child or if I just have an overactive imagination.
She definitely understands much of what we say, and reacts appropriately to various words and phrases. But I think she's starting to talk already.
Baby E really seems to be developing words and signals that are connected to particular people or actions. Last night she looked right at DH and said "da-da-da" very pointedly. She's been saying "at, at" and "aay" when she claps her hands--probably because I say "clap clap" and "yay" when we clap and so she associates the action with those sounds.
A few minutes ago I went and got E up from her nap, saying, "Hi, there! Are you ready to get up?" She met me with a big grin, raising her body to meet me as I picked her up. She put her arms around me and laid her head on my shoulder, so I sat in the rocking chair with her to cuddle a bit.
A minute later she started rocking her body back and forth insistently. When I started rocking the chair, she grinned and relaxed to enjoy the ride. When I stopped, she made rocking motions with her body again and relaxed when I started rocking once more.
Then she started saying "Ah dah! Ah dah!" She was saying it over and over, more and more loudly. She seemed so frustrated and insistent that I felt she was trying to say something specific. I repeated, "Ah dah? Dada? Are you saying Dada?"
That didn't satisfy her at all. She grabbed my shirt with both hands, looking into my face intently and almost shouting.
"Ah dah! Ah dah! AH DAH!!!!"
Suddenly I realized what it sounded like and said, "Hi there?"
Baby E broke into a huge grin and her whole body quivered in affirmation. She said it once more, triumphantly: "Ah dah."
I responded, "Hi there!" and she smiled again, relaxed, got quiet and turned her attention to something else.
Soon I started playing with her hands, trying to get her to clap and clapping my own hands, and then moved onto another game. A little while later she grabbed my hands and studied them intently for a while, turning them over to look at both sides. She played with them for some time, just moving my fingers and examining my hands.
Then Baby E started saying "At! At!" She grabbed my hands and started moving them toward each other and then apart in a clapping motion, saying "At, at!" the whole time--one "at" for each time my hands came together.
Her little wise eyes were so intense as she taught me how to clap.
A few minutes ago I brought her into the office with me and sat down to nurse her while I posted. She wasn't interested in that for long, and suddenly arched her back and grunted, writhing hard. When I didn't immediately figure out what she wanted she escalated into a full-blown tantrum. It all happened so quickly that I thought she had somehow gotten hurt or was in pain, but I couldn't figure out anything wrong.
She got more and more upset and seemed to be trying to wrest herself out of my grasp. I could barely hold onto her anyway, so I sat her on the carpet next to me. Immediately she cooed happily and started playing.
She just wanted down.
This child, at 7 months, already knows what she wants and has specific things she wants to communicate. She gets very frustrated when we don't understand.
I'm thinking she's a very good candidate for learning baby signs.
Both of the other girls' desire to communicate kept fairly well in pace with their abilities. We used some signs with them but not a whole lot. It just never seemed like a big necessity, because they were able to communicate most of what they wanted to get across to us.
AJ was more immersed in her own world and less interested in communicating, but often made up her own signs and gestures when she did want to tell us something (such as patomiming picking up Cheerios off her palm and eating them when she was hungry).
MM was a very early talker, and was walking and talking at 11 months (while still wearing 3-6 month size clothes). Anything she wanted to say, she just said it.
Neither one of them really had many tantrums over wanting to communicate something they couldn't make us understand. They generally either got us to understand or shrugged it off.
Baby E, though, is already getting so incredibly frustrated when she wants to communicate something to us and we don't "get it." So I'm starting to teach her some of the signs we learned with the other girls.
If that seems to work well I'm going to have to find a book or video to learn more about baby signing. Any recommendations would be welcome.
Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the ride.
Today we ate cream of pea and lettuce soup, which was quite surprisingly good, along with homemade bread. We talked about everything from art projects to chores.
We discussed the idea of a temporary trial of cat ownership. Then we talked about how the girls enjoyed their evening with the babysitter last night. We tried to remember the words to a song on a video the kids watched recently. Finally, we talked about how we'd like to get our house cleaner and more organized so it will be more pleasant to live in and give us more space and time for other things, and how that means we will all have to help more with chores around the house and keeping things neat.
It was a relaxed, cheerful and enjoyable lunch time together.
Just as the older girls were settled in for quiet time, Baby E woke up. Although I was hoping to get a nap, the individual time with her is fun.
Especially after having some time away from the kids the last few days, I'm finding myself really relishing my interactions with them.
############################
Baby E is not really a cuddler. She'll give me hugs, leaning her head on my shoulder and relaxing into my arms. But, unless she's falling asleep, it only lasts a minute or two. Before long she's squirming to get down or leaning out to look around and get a view of my face.
She is, however, an extremely social little person. As we noticed soon after her birth, eye contact is extremely important to her.
It's obvious that Baby E is a born communicator. She's always communicated volumes with her eyes and facial expressions. That little lift of the eyebrows and the huge grin are her tickets to charm. But now she's increasingly trying to communicate more specifically, and learning to use her voice and hands for that purpose.
At 7 months, Baby E claps, waves, and lifts her arms to be picked up. She communicates very clearly whether she wants to nurse or isn't interested when I'm trying to feed her. When she wants solids she becomes very vocal about it, following our food with her eyes, whole body leaning toward it, mouth open wide. Her way of communicating hunger is a deep-throated, wide-mouthed "aaaah" sound.
She rubs her eyes when she's tired and pats her ear when it hurts. She pushes my hands away when she doesn't want to get dressed--which is most of the time. And she laughs with joy and reaches for a book or toy when someone offers it to her.
The last day or two, though, I'm wondering if we have a genius child or if I just have an overactive imagination.
She definitely understands much of what we say, and reacts appropriately to various words and phrases. But I think she's starting to talk already.
Baby E really seems to be developing words and signals that are connected to particular people or actions. Last night she looked right at DH and said "da-da-da" very pointedly. She's been saying "at, at" and "aay" when she claps her hands--probably because I say "clap clap" and "yay" when we clap and so she associates the action with those sounds.
A few minutes ago I went and got E up from her nap, saying, "Hi, there! Are you ready to get up?" She met me with a big grin, raising her body to meet me as I picked her up. She put her arms around me and laid her head on my shoulder, so I sat in the rocking chair with her to cuddle a bit.
A minute later she started rocking her body back and forth insistently. When I started rocking the chair, she grinned and relaxed to enjoy the ride. When I stopped, she made rocking motions with her body again and relaxed when I started rocking once more.
Then she started saying "Ah dah! Ah dah!" She was saying it over and over, more and more loudly. She seemed so frustrated and insistent that I felt she was trying to say something specific. I repeated, "Ah dah? Dada? Are you saying Dada?"
That didn't satisfy her at all. She grabbed my shirt with both hands, looking into my face intently and almost shouting.
"Ah dah! Ah dah! AH DAH!!!!"
Suddenly I realized what it sounded like and said, "Hi there?"
Baby E broke into a huge grin and her whole body quivered in affirmation. She said it once more, triumphantly: "Ah dah."
I responded, "Hi there!" and she smiled again, relaxed, got quiet and turned her attention to something else.
Soon I started playing with her hands, trying to get her to clap and clapping my own hands, and then moved onto another game. A little while later she grabbed my hands and studied them intently for a while, turning them over to look at both sides. She played with them for some time, just moving my fingers and examining my hands.
Then Baby E started saying "At! At!" She grabbed my hands and started moving them toward each other and then apart in a clapping motion, saying "At, at!" the whole time--one "at" for each time my hands came together.
Her little wise eyes were so intense as she taught me how to clap.
A few minutes ago I brought her into the office with me and sat down to nurse her while I posted. She wasn't interested in that for long, and suddenly arched her back and grunted, writhing hard. When I didn't immediately figure out what she wanted she escalated into a full-blown tantrum. It all happened so quickly that I thought she had somehow gotten hurt or was in pain, but I couldn't figure out anything wrong.
She got more and more upset and seemed to be trying to wrest herself out of my grasp. I could barely hold onto her anyway, so I sat her on the carpet next to me. Immediately she cooed happily and started playing.
She just wanted down.
This child, at 7 months, already knows what she wants and has specific things she wants to communicate. She gets very frustrated when we don't understand.
I'm thinking she's a very good candidate for learning baby signs.
Both of the other girls' desire to communicate kept fairly well in pace with their abilities. We used some signs with them but not a whole lot. It just never seemed like a big necessity, because they were able to communicate most of what they wanted to get across to us.
AJ was more immersed in her own world and less interested in communicating, but often made up her own signs and gestures when she did want to tell us something (such as patomiming picking up Cheerios off her palm and eating them when she was hungry).
MM was a very early talker, and was walking and talking at 11 months (while still wearing 3-6 month size clothes). Anything she wanted to say, she just said it.
Neither one of them really had many tantrums over wanting to communicate something they couldn't make us understand. They generally either got us to understand or shrugged it off.
Baby E, though, is already getting so incredibly frustrated when she wants to communicate something to us and we don't "get it." So I'm starting to teach her some of the signs we learned with the other girls.
If that seems to work well I'm going to have to find a book or video to learn more about baby signing. Any recommendations would be welcome.
Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the ride.
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 3:11 PM[Permanent link]
5 Comments:
Holy guacamole!
Baby Genious!!!!!
Hi PK:
In my experience with a child EXACTLY like this--you won't need signs. She'll be talking enough for you to understand by age 1.
My eldest (a girl) was like this. She was speaking in two word sentences by age 1 and fully fluent by 18 months. Not only that, but at that age she was bilingual (Russian-English). She also required a lot of stimulation and had a need to be out and about all the time. I'm still not sure if she's a genius (she's definitely in the top 1 percentile at age 10), but she is a born writer and communicator.
Good luck! Your head is going to hurt until she learns to read. Ours talked like a radio until that blessed day (age 4, but I think it would have been earlier if she didn't have eyesight problems. She knew her alphabet by 18 months). Oh, and not to worry you or anything, but naps were gone by 13 months :)
I'm thrilled her little brother is a bit more "normal".
Baby Blue said her first word at 11 weeks.
So, yeah, it's very possible that you've got an early talker on your hands. Two-word phrases at 7 months definitely puts her in the genius category! I almost wonder if she needs the signs? She may have the verbal ability to simply start speaking to you.
Thanks, Liz.
Kelly, thanks for sharing your experience. Baby E has a very high need for stimulation, too. Thankfully she has two older sisters to help fill that need.
Phantom, you know . . . I'm pretty sure all my kids started saying "hi" at just a few months old. But at that age there's so much babbling going on, and we're so conditioned to think they can't be talking already, that I was never sure whether to believe my ears or not. :)
I figure she may or may not end up needing the signs, but it sure can't hurt to start using a few with her.
Wow, yes, genius baby!
Joseph Garcia's "Sign with your Baby" book & video kit was really helpful to us (and to MG, who also had many things she wanted us to know!). Good luck!
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