[RoundAbout]

Anyone out there have a physically gifted infant or toddler?

I was looking at my birth video recently and for the first time noticed that the doctor examining my babe remarked twice that he had "awesome muscle tone" and "really great tone!" in an amazed voice.

He's an exceptionally strong baby, and was rolling intentionally in both directions by 3 months. He could low crawl by 4 months, and now is barely 6 months old now and is already crawling on his hands and knees all over the place. I didn't think it was a big deal until several women remarked on it (I don't pay much attention to developmental milestones and what he is *supposed* to be doing).

I know its hard to tell anything in such a young babe, but would love to encourage him since he seems to have such a natural inclination for the physical. Any ideas? Also, is there any connection between physical giftedness and other forms of giftedness?

 

[ejsmommy]

Same was true for dd2, rolled over at 9 weeks, crawled at 4mo., was walking well at 10mo. She loved to pull up and push a little wooden dolly stroller around before she was walking solo. It was a bit maddening for me to have to be by her side steering because she liked to do this a lot!! Also, she was very alert and smiling by two weeks. I don't really know if these are signs of giftedness at least not the way talking at 4 months is!

: Now she is 13 months and really understands what we are saying...we can recite a line from one of her books and she will go and find it and bring it to us. She speaks about 5-10 words but not always understandable by anyone but me.

Dd1 is almost 4 and I have recently realized that she is most likely gifted and she was only slightly ahead with the physical milestones. We will have to wait and see with dd2!

 

[mom2ponygirl]

Okay, lost my last post somehow

:

I've known a couple of physically gifted toddlers from my daughter's gymnastics class. The boy was just turned 4 and could do powerful back handsprings, splits, walk on his hands across the floor, etc. An unrelated 4 year old girl wasn't quite as impressive but easily kept up with my fairly athletic 8 year old.

Now that I think about it, I was something of a physically gifted toddler. I swam well before 1, could swim full laps of crawl and backstroke before I was 3. Of course I wasn't globally gifted - I didn't walk till I was nearly 2!

I ended up a top 25 in the nation age group swimmer, but don't expect my daughter to follow suit. She's still just dog paddling!

 

[PreggieUBA2C]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mom2ponygirl Now that I think about it, I was something of a physically gifted toddler. I swam well before 1, could swim full laps of crawl and backstroke before I was 3. Of course I wasn't globally gifted - I didn't walk till I was nearly 2!

Yes, but clearly that is because you were a mermaid!

I didn't even learn to swim until I was 8 years old (very unattentive parents and very limited opportunities in general) and had I not just started doing it then, I would have drowned. Nice introduction...

OP, I think that you should encourage everything your little one is doing- which no doubt you are- so you'll probably just be with ds, play with him, help him try new things, etc... He's a baby still, and if his abilities are markers for giftedness, you'll still just continue to encourage him and meet his needs. It's exciting to watch babes develop, but I wouldn't try putting him through any program or anything even remotely similar, myself. Is that what you were asking?

I did just think of a few things during the lang delay between the last paragraph and this one.

Our dc were very early with physical milestones (and everything else) and the only thing that I could do was to provide things for them to use for their pursuits like rolling toys, large soft cushions for climbing, stepstools for stacking, climbing and sitting on, and whatever else they seemed to need. Oh, wait, we do have a small aerobics trampoline that they've been using since before they were walking. The best toy we gave to our first son that immediately accelerated his physical ability was a giant bouncy ball- one that was almost as tall as he was at 10 months. We wished we had purchaesd it much earlier because he just flew after that. He used it to walk, run, climb, somersault, throw, catch, and generally enjoy.

The other thing that was beneficial was to give a large variety of objects in the bath; his hand-eye coordination really improved at four months when we did that and it was already fantastic (accurate pincer grasp at 2 months).

That's all I can think of. I imagine swimming is also a terrific activity. A friend of ours loves her ball pit for physical development, although because I have no experience with this, I have no idea if I would agree.

Awww, I can't wait for our newbie; reading your post made me long for those moments again

 

[RoundAbout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PreggieUBA2C Our dc were very early with physical milestones (and everything else) and the only thing that I could do was to provide things for them to use for their pursuits like rolling toys, large soft cushions for climbing, stepstools for stacking, climbing and sitting on, and whatever else they seemed to need. Oh, wait, we do have a small aerobics trampoline that they've been using since before they were walking. The best toy we gave to our first son that immediately accelerated his physical ability was a giant bouncy ball- one that was almost as tall as he was at 10 months. We wished we had purchaesd it much earlier because he just flew after that. He used it to walk, run, climb, somersault, throw, catch, and generally enjoy. The other thing that was beneficial was to give a large variety of objects in the bath; his hand-eye coordination really improved at four months when we did that and it was already fantastic (accurate pincer grasp at 2 months).

Thanks, this is the kind of thing I'm looking for! I'm not trying to turn him into a professional athlete or put him through some rigid program, just want some different ideas for activities that he might enjoy (I have the Doman book, but their exercises seem a little too much like work for me). Right now he just crawls around on his own, but I don't have much for him to do on the floor. DH is working on swimming a little bit at a time though.

Great ideas everyone! Keep them coming.

 

[supervee]

I think you will find this chart interesting:
http://www.gt-cybersource.org/Record.aspx?rid=11252

 

[Terabith]

We enjoyed the Itsy Bitsy Yoga book when my second dd was a baby.

 

[cdahlgrd]

Sounds like my twins. Save yourself lots of worry and childpoof NOW!! He will soon be crawling up onto counters/stoves, over gates, out of crib, etc.

Take extra furniture out of the house, so you just don't have to worry about him jumping from the coffee table to the chairs, or using the ottoman as a way to climb up the bookshelves (oh, and remove the bottom couple shelves to slow down this inclination!!), etc.

One big problem, is that they can physically climb a ladder, but they aren't scared of heights yet. . . .

 

[PreggieUBA2C]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdahlgrd One big problem, is that they can physically climb a ladder, but they aren't scared of heights yet. . . .

Yup!

On that note, we have no accessible chairs anywhere which only allows enough of a delay that I can run and pull dc down before they are too high and I have a heart attack- they'd be fine; they are all very coordinated, bt I just can't handle the stress... Btw, we use exercise balls now instead of chairs; we find them more comfortable and they're safer for our dc, I think.

We also removed all the bottom shelves- again, just for delay.

I also remembered that I use the shwlves that are removed from our bookshelves as ramps. They love them for running, jumping, crawling, and rolling anything they can find that will make its own way or be pushed down. They are pretty creative with this.

Just recently I built a six inch tall balance beam for them which they all enjoy as well.

A mama here recently posted a link to this site to help me with my very very active boys. Ours don't have any sensory issues as far as I can tell, but the equipment is fabulous nonetheless and I will be making a few of the items pictured by myself next month. I'm excited. Here it is:
http://www.southpawenterprises.com/

I'm sure nobody could give enough praise for playsilks! They are fantastic for physical play as well as imaginative play and pretty much everything; I wish I had known about them earlier. I found a vendor that sells them 12 for $60 and they're a good size, too. Here's the link:

http://www.atoygarden.com/index.cfm?...roduct_ID=1105

Hmm. I guess I do have afew ideas afterall

:

I really wish I had done more, when ds1 was an infant, to keep him stimulated in this way; I think not doing so was frustrating to him. I am happy for you that you have recognised your dc's needs so early. We struggled with a lot of negative meddling from people we thought were more equipped than we were as new parents. We were wrong and it took us a little while to accept that the people we trusted to advise us were not open to the possibilities that became reality for us with our ds1 and subsequent children. I am glad that you are!

 

[Terabith]

My kids also enjoyed Gymboree at various times in their early toddler years....

 

[pigpokey]

My son (close to 2.5 years) has been attending freeplay gymnastics with his older sister at the local gymnastics center since birth. And he's been in the water since birth and does several dives and jumps off the 3 meter board. And he started cycling (2 wheels) at 2.3 years. My advice is "don't keep the little man down." Follow his interests and provide activities at his developmental level, not at his age level. Don't push. Just facilitate. And don't protect him from minor injuries -- you can't really hothouse judgment, but you can at least not retard its development.