I'm a bit nervous about posting this, as I know when people say that their DCs are very clever, when they're still just a baby or toddler, that it is usually just the parents being a bit too PFB and that it all evens out when DCs are school age anyway, and that other mums/dads rightly end up rolling their eyes
But recently I've realised that some of the things I've read on here about what 2 year olds can do and what friends DCs can do, versus what DS can do, just seem quite different.
So DH and I have started to realise that maybe our DS, aged 2.3, is actually quite bright and are just wondering if we need to be doing anything to actively help him develop at his own pace, but not pressurise him into doing anything he doesn't want to, and we want to try and get this right. Anyway, just a few examples:
- he speaks in full grammatically correct sentences that he forms himself (rather than just copying what I say) e.g. this morning we had DS: "Oh dear" Me: "Did you drop some cornflakes DS?" "No mummy. I spilt some milk"
- his nursery manager says that his language skills are at least a year ahead of his actual age and she hasn't known anyone this young speak like this before
- friends always comment on how he is doing things that their DCs couldn't do or aren't doing
- he can do various 20-30 piece jigsaw puzzles on his own without any help from us
- he has memorised his favourite stories, e.g. Tiger who came to tea, such that he likes to 'read' them to us by looking at the picture and using several of the specific words on the page that he has remembered
- he can talk about events in the past, including a month or two ago
- last week he saw the road atlas in the car and asked what it was. I said "it's a map. It shows you which way to go when you are out walking or driving" and then we moved on to something else. Three days later, having not talked about maps since, he saw a different map in a guidebook and started pointing at it saying "This is our house. This is the road to nursery. This is where Harry lives and this road is where Jesse's house is".
I don't know. Maybe I am being really PFB (please tell me if so) but I wasn't expecting this sort of stuff until he was 3 or 4 to be honest. Did I just have unrealistic expectations of what a 2.3 year old could do, or does this seem bright? And if he does seem bright, should I be doing anything to help/encourage him or just bumbling along as normal anyway?
I'll slink away quietly if the consensus is that I am being PFB (please roll your eyes at me if you feel the need!), but if not I'd love to hear from anyone who has had a bright toddler and if you did anything in particular to encourage it or just let them be.