Is it totally normal my 2 year old knows his ABC’s, is starting to read, counts to 30, does simple math, etc?
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Marley asked:
Hi. So yesterday during my son Atticus’s evening recital of Fox in Socks (from memory) my husband asked me a question. “Is this normal?” I can’t answer that question. I looked it up on the internet, and you know how that can be. I am hoping someone can give us any helpful information on… I guess just on how normal or abnormal this is. We don’t live at all close to any family, have zero experience with other little kids and truly do not have anything to compare our experience to. We are, however, getting a little concerned that every time someone asks his age they react to the response with a look of disbelief and usually an “Are you kidding me?” Not really always positive, either. Atticus turned 2 on Nov 29, couple weeks ago.
So, I guess I’ll just list some things that he does. He knows his ABC’s (sings the whole song, so cute) and can pick most of them out by name and give words that begin with them. He can “read” some words but we don’t know if he is actually sounding them out or just recognizing them. For example, The Grinch that stole Christmas was on and when the words Dr. Seuss popped up he got excited and started joyously exclaiming “It’s a Dr. Seuss story, Mommy! A Christmas Dr. Seuss!” He loves Dr. Seuss, by the way. He will sit down and “read” entire books by himself as he turns the pages and comments on the pictures. When he doesn’t know a word, he will ask me what it says. This morning he pointed out that the trucks in one picture are only big and little “Because of perspective, mommy. The little one is far away.” He has been a book-aholic since 6 months, and has already upgraded to an interest level that seems a little out of place. A lot of our books are for first and second graders, I would assume. I have not actually counted the words in his vocabulary, but I would have to guess at least 500?, at least. He just talks. We have conversations. He regularly and correctly uses words like “beautiful”, “incomplete”, “irrational”. The talking is the reason why we get strange reactions from people because he’ll just be gibbering away and it’s a little shocking to people, I guess. A couple months ago in the grocery store there was a man standing near to us wearing a McCain/Palin t-shirt. Atticus looked at the shirt, and then looked at the man and stated “Barack Obama is going to be the President of the United States.” Now, that was a weird moment.
He can count to 30, though he sometimes omits the number four. He counts backwards from 25 down. He does some simple math when he plays, lining up cars and then adding and subtracting them, for example. “You take one and now I only have two, mommy. LOOK!”
He knows all his shapes, colors, and apparently as of today is understanding perspective. He practices his drum set and his violin (both purchased by request) every day and actually holds the instruments correctly and attempts to play. He usually says he is trying to learn “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. He sings lots of songs including some strange ones like “The Man I Love” by Ella Fitzgerald and “Bangers and Mash” by Radiohead. He tells this joke “Mommy, do you want to listen to Banger’s and Mash….POTATOES?” and then he laughs and laughs (it’s a fake laugh, now) He knows all the animals and their different unique parts. An elephant and it’s trunk. He knows that deer are Bucks and Does and the bucks have antlers. All these strange little bits of information on seemingly everything that I honestly can not recall even telling him most of the time. He knows all the different names of excavation and construction equipment, for instance.
He does play with blocks but prefers legos (we have the medium ones) and likes to make buildings and racetracks which inevitably are named “Atticus Speedway” and “Atticus Hospital” etc.
So, I’m just going to stop there and get back to it, but if anyone could help us out, I would appreciate some advice. Should we be concerned, at all? Is there anything we should or should not be doing?
Should I be worried?
My kid is seeming a little too smart and his mommy never even went to college! HELP!
I would say that he does not relate well to peers at all. He pretty much ignores children his age and will go straight off to chat with their parents instead. We know a little girl just two weeks younger than him and he refers to her as a “baby” and is completely unimpressed by her. Poor thing follows him around like he is some magnificent wonder, and he just ignores her. He is, however, very attracted to little girls around the age of 6 or 7 and will approach them with toys to share and such, but is bashful and doesn’t say a whole lot. His favorite friends and the people he really talks to are in their 30’s. This is one of my worries.
He can absolutely hold a conversation and forms complete sentences and makes his point and comes up with little bits of humor and the whole nine yards. This is the stuff that sometimes gets us a negative (or at least, a perceived negative) reaction. Sometimes the look on peoples faces when they find out his age verges on some kind of repulsion. I realize that they are not probably actually repulsed, but the look is often not good. Sometimes people will even seem a little freaked out. It is the worst when we are with other children his own age and their parents. He sticks out like a sore thumb. I still have nightmares about being ridiculed by other little kids (not because of brains, just because I was “uncool”) and I really hope for my son that he can be popular and fit in. I know that sounds maybe a bit unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but…….
Okay, and what about this? When we read books or nursery rhymes, I’ll often just read part or just the title and he will recite the rest. Well, sometimes he won’t know, so he’ll just make it up. For instance, about 15 minutes ago he finished the nursery rhyme “There was a little girl” Like this:
“Kicking her two heels up to the ceiling,
She suddenly awoke,
And said ‘it was a joke’.
She was sorry that she hurt her Mother’s feelings.”
Now, I have never, ever taught him this. And, although these lines are not correct, they follow the same rhythm and rhyme scheme. He is making up these things off the top of his head, and he is somehow doing it.
Is that normal?
Hi. So yesterday during my son Atticus’s evening recital of Fox in Socks (from memory) my husband asked me a question. “Is this normal?” I can’t answer that question. I looked it up on the internet, and you know how that can be. I am hoping someone can give us any helpful information on… I guess just on how normal or abnormal this is. We don’t live at all close to any family, have zero experience with other little kids and truly do not have anything to compare our experience to. We are, however, getting a little concerned that every time someone asks his age they react to the response with a look of disbelief and usually an “Are you kidding me?” Not really always positive, either. Atticus turned 2 on Nov 29, couple weeks ago.
So, I guess I’ll just list some things that he does. He knows his ABC’s (sings the whole song, so cute) and can pick most of them out by name and give words that begin with them. He can “read” some words but we don’t know if he is actually sounding them out or just recognizing them. For example, The Grinch that stole Christmas was on and when the words Dr. Seuss popped up he got excited and started joyously exclaiming “It’s a Dr. Seuss story, Mommy! A Christmas Dr. Seuss!” He loves Dr. Seuss, by the way. He will sit down and “read” entire books by himself as he turns the pages and comments on the pictures. When he doesn’t know a word, he will ask me what it says. This morning he pointed out that the trucks in one picture are only big and little “Because of perspective, mommy. The little one is far away.” He has been a book-aholic since 6 months, and has already upgraded to an interest level that seems a little out of place. A lot of our books are for first and second graders, I would assume. I have not actually counted the words in his vocabulary, but I would have to guess at least 500?, at least. He just talks. We have conversations. He regularly and correctly uses words like “beautiful”, “incomplete”, “irrational”. The talking is the reason why we get strange reactions from people because he’ll just be gibbering away and it’s a little shocking to people, I guess. A couple months ago in the grocery store there was a man standing near to us wearing a McCain/Palin t-shirt. Atticus looked at the shirt, and then looked at the man and stated “Barack Obama is going to be the President of the United States.” Now, that was a weird moment.
He can count to 30, though he sometimes omits the number four. He counts backwards from 25 down. He does some simple math when he plays, lining up cars and then adding and subtracting them, for example. “You take one and now I only have two, mommy. LOOK!”
He knows all his shapes, colors, and apparently as of today is understanding perspective. He practices his drum set and his violin (both purchased by request) every day and actually holds the instruments correctly and attempts to play. He usually says he is trying to learn “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. He sings lots of songs including some strange ones like “The Man I Love” by Ella Fitzgerald and “Bangers and Mash” by Radiohead. He tells this joke “Mommy, do you want to listen to Banger’s and Mash….POTATOES?” and then he laughs and laughs (it’s a fake laugh, now) He knows all the animals and their different unique parts. An elephant and it’s trunk. He knows that deer are Bucks and Does and the bucks have antlers. All these strange little bits of information on seemingly everything that I honestly can not recall even telling him most of the time. He knows all the different names of excavation and construction equipment, for instance.
He does play with blocks but prefers legos (we have the medium ones) and likes to make buildings and racetracks which inevitably are named “Atticus Speedway” and “Atticus Hospital” etc.
So, I’m just going to stop there and get back to it, but if anyone could help us out, I would appreciate some advice. Should we be concerned, at all? Is there anything we should or should not be doing?
Should I be worried?
My kid is seeming a little too smart and his mommy never even went to college! HELP!
I would say that he does not relate well to peers at all. He pretty much ignores children his age and will go straight off to chat with their parents instead. We know a little girl just two weeks younger than him and he refers to her as a “baby” and is completely unimpressed by her. Poor thing follows him around like he is some magnificent wonder, and he just ignores her. He is, however, very attracted to little girls around the age of 6 or 7 and will approach them with toys to share and such, but is bashful and doesn’t say a whole lot. His favorite friends and the people he really talks to are in their 30’s. This is one of my worries.
He can absolutely hold a conversation and forms complete sentences and makes his point and comes up with little bits of humor and the whole nine yards. This is the stuff that sometimes gets us a negative (or at least, a perceived negative) reaction. Sometimes the look on peoples faces when they find out his age verges on some kind of repulsion. I realize that they are not probably actually repulsed, but the look is often not good. Sometimes people will even seem a little freaked out. It is the worst when we are with other children his own age and their parents. He sticks out like a sore thumb. I still have nightmares about being ridiculed by other little kids (not because of brains, just because I was “uncool”) and I really hope for my son that he can be popular and fit in. I know that sounds maybe a bit unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but…….
Okay, and what about this? When we read books or nursery rhymes, I’ll often just read part or just the title and he will recite the rest. Well, sometimes he won’t know, so he’ll just make it up. For instance, about 15 minutes ago he finished the nursery rhyme “There was a little girl” Like this:
“Kicking her two heels up to the ceiling,
She suddenly awoke,
And said ‘it was a joke’.
She was sorry that she hurt her Mother’s feelings.”
Now, I have never, ever taught him this. And, although these lines are not correct, they follow the same rhythm and rhyme scheme. He is making up these things off the top of his head, and he is somehow doing it.
Is that normal?
