I know every parent thinks their child is the smartest kid on the block. Well, Joel and I are no exception. Since the moment our little Avery was born we noticed how observant she was for a newborn. She'd check everyone out in the hospital, looking around, seemingly studying their every word and movement.

Since her arrival we've noticed she has an extremely good memory and picks up on things, colors, letters, whatever we teach her relatively fast. She walked at 10 months, which is not extremely early but in the earlier than the average child, started talking a bunch around 15 months, not like one of the "Your Baby Can Read" kids but to us she's pretty smart.

Here are some signs of giftedness:

Birth – 2 years

Early expressions (e.g. smiling)
Unusual alertness
Interest in books (turning pages of books before 1 year of age and paying attention when read to within 6 months)
Interest in computers
Unusually active and high levels of energy (but not hyperactive)
Playing with shape sorters by about 11 months.
Ability to form two word phrases by 14 months
Ability to understand instructions by 18 months
Ability to say and understand many words before 18 months
Could stay still and enjoy a TV programs (e.g., Sesame Street) by the age of 1
Has favorite TV shows/VCD/DVDs by age 1
Appears to require less sleep (yet not sleepy or irritable due to lack of sleep)
Recognition of letters/alphabets by age 2
Recognition and rote counting of numbers 1 – 10 or higher by age 2
Recognition of colors by age 2
Recognition of first word by age 2
Interest in puzzles by age 2
Has long attention span in interest areas by age 2
Ability to form at least 3 word sentence by age 2
Interest in time by age 2
2 – 4 years

The following includes all/most skills in the checklist above.
Early and extensive language development and vocabulary, forms grammatically correct sentences as compared to peers
Interest in computers (not video games)
Ability to solve a 20-piece puzzle by age 3
Has a vivid imagination (includes having imaginary friends)
Extraordinary feats of memory
Extreme curiosity and asks many questions
Specific talent (if any), such as artistic ability or an unusual facility for numbers - becomes more apparent by age 4
Ability to memorize and recall facts easily
Early development of a sense of humor
Ability to do one-to-one counting for small quantities by age 3
Recognition of simple signs and own written name by age 3
Ability to write letters, numbers, words, and their names between 3 and 4 years
Ability to read easy readers by age 4
Rather independent on the computer by age 4
Demonstration of musical aptitude just after 2
Ability to do simple addition and subtraction by age 4
High degrees of mathematical understanding by age 4
The above checklist is at best regarded as a rough guide and bear in mind that not all of the skills and age guide mentioned is absolute. Some children may demonstrate these abilities at a younger age and some may be older and yet classified as advanced learners. However, this can be a good guide to look out for signs of early advanced development in children and provide the necessary platform for them to flourish.

As for Avery, she's certainly an active kid, but can focus and concentrate on certain things. She loves art and draws faces, with eyes, ears, cheeks, hair and the rest all the time. She has always loved books and pretends to read them to us sometimes. She has been a pretty chatty baby, toddler and now preschooler and even amazed our Pediatrician with her vocabulary, which to me, says a lot.

The doctor also called her percotious, which I thought was mischevious, but it actually means being exceptionally early in development or occurrence or exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age. We found that although difficult for us to deal with, Avery would always say words to ask questions and if we did not answer them she would persist and need that affirmation before she talked about anything else.



She's a very very inquisitive girl, asking what people's names are that she sees in the stores, asking why certain things are the way they are, or what small things are.

Avery loves watching television and I don't think it's because she's a couch potato, I really believe she understands what is happening in the shows, and even at an early age would discuss the show with me.

She definitely has never been a sleeper, and that is a listed in the signs of early giftedness. I'm assuming because they want to be up learning/playing. I guess I should be happy for my lack of sleep because of this.

We were amazed that Avery knew all of her colors, some shapes, and how to sing her ABCs before age 2.

A few strange things that put us in awe of Avery is that even before she was 2 she knew the difference between boys and girls and would tell us that Mickey was a boy and Strawberry Shortcake were girls and even label strangers on the street and be correct all the time. Avery also remembers things from when she was 1 that I would have a hard time remembering.  She even noticed as we were in line picking up our Santa photo that the Santa on the products was not the Santa we'd seen. (I think we may be in trouble)

Avery is such a ham and always loves to trick us, steal our seats, she loves being silly so definitely has a sense of humor.

Avery knows all of her letters (occasionally forgetting a G or a K here and there) she also likes to write O's, T's, H's and X's. Loves drawing smiley faces with hair, cheeks, ears, eyes, nose, smile, sometimes a beard. Her favorite thing is to make up characters on the computer (paint.net) with daddy. We play with the library computers too and they're a lot of fun. Avery has started to become very good with the mouse these days.

Avery has memorized her age, what state she lives in, what state her grandparents live in, both of our names, how to spell her name, what my, Joel's and her birthdays are, (Month and Date), her numbers through 14.

Knows her numbers on her hand, and also will add her fingers (ie 1 and 1 = 2)

Avery loves music, any instrument, she's drawn to piano, played the harmonica and was VERY into it. Will chew, hum, clap to the beat of a song. Anything for a little rhythm with this girlie!

She's a little bit of a perfectionist, lining her shoes up, having certain things in certain spots, getting upset if something is not done in her order. Maybe I would say she's particular instead. :) That's okay mommy has a little bit of that in her too :)

I was a gifted child and in the gifted program at school starting at grade 3 and hubby was smart, after all he married me.

So what will we do with this talent? Well, we'll nurture it and help her grow as much as we can. At this time we don't have the money for pre-school but at the same time I feel right now I'm giving her everything and more than what she would/could be learning plus more hands on time. She's getting the socialization from our friends and many play dates so I'm not worried about that either.

We're surrounded by some very smart kids and awesome parents too so that's a blessing for us. We're so glad that God has put this beautiful, bright little girl into our lives and made us her parents.