Gifted or Simply Bright

Words:At 14-17 months:
My son could say a lot of words. He does not simply repeat the words but points at the object he was referring to.

Noun - tree, flower, key, light, milk, water, moon, star, heart, wowo, mommy, daddy, ball, balloon, car, pen, rice
Verb - up (for stand-up), down/baba, open, sleep, swim, get, hug

Alphabet.
At 18 months:
My son completes "A is for ___". Apple.

Between 18 - 20 months:
A is for Apple
B is for Ball
C is for Cat
D is for Dog
E is for Elephant
F is for Fish
G is for Guitar
H is for Hat
I is for Ice cream
J is for Jollibee
K is for Kite/Key


We made sure that my son knows those items, that he is not only answering because he memorized it but because he really knows the objects and can answer even if we ask him in random order. These first half of the alphabet we taught him, but to my surprise, he was able to learn the rest on his own, using his IPAD.

Between 20 - 22 months:
My son already knows the alphabet, big or small letters, and can sing the Alphabet song though having a hard time with "L, M, N" part of the song.

L is for Lion
M is for Moon/Monkey
N - confused with this as 'M'
O is for Octopus
P is for Pig
Q - can say and identify the letter
R is for Rabbit
S is for Sun
T is for Tree
U is for Umbrella
V - can say and identify the letter
W - can say and identify the letter
X - can say and identify the letter
Y - can say and identify the letter
Z is for Zebra

Numbers.
The first number my son was able to identify was '3'. But then, he can now count from1 to 10, and can identify the number from 1 to 9.
How did he learn how to count? He enjoyed watching the "Dream English" on Youtube. That's how he has learned to identify the numbers as well.

Shapes. I was shocked when I pulled-out his brainy baby cards and he picked the oval shape and said "Oval". I did not teach him that, I said to my husband. My mom taught him the "Heart" shape, but the rest, Square, Triangle, Circle, Rectangle, and Oval, through self-study on his IPAD.

The Animals and its sounds. He's learned on his own. My husband was holding a card with a picture of an owl. He tried to ask my son what was on the picture and we were amazed when he answered "Owl". While still on shock, I asked my husband if he taught my child? He answered, "No, I don't know how he's learned that...maybe he can already read." Then we both laughed. Then we started telling each animal on each card to my son like "giraffe, penguin, bee, panda, dolphin, rhinoceros, kangaroo" And the next time we asked him again in some other day, he already knew those. He say the animal names (except for rhinoceros which is hard to pronounce), or point at it when asked particularly.

The basic animals, he's learned I guess from the "Old MacDonald" song.
Dog - woof, woof
Cat - he says 'nyam' instead of 'meow'
Cow - Moo
Sheep - Baaa
Pig - Oink
But the Elephant, he says "Oh no!" because of the 'Hickory Dickory Dock' song on youtube by Simple Learning.

Colors. He can identify the color Red and White. Likes to say the word Purple but could not identify yet. He knows that the color of his hair is Black.

Song. Aside from the Alphabet Song, he could sing the Hickory Dickory Dock, a few lines of it, Rain Rain Go Away (almost the whole song), and can do the action for Eency Weency Spider even without someone to follow to. He is the one choosing for the song he wants to listen to. One night, I was singing to him before we sleep, he said 'ayaw' which means I should change the song, I told him "What should I sing? I don't know what to sing." He then sang, at first I did not know what he was singing until I heard the words 'dock' and 'tictac', then I got it, it's Hickory Dickory Dock.
Reading. He can now read the word "Cat". I once taught him, and he got it.

How did he learn those? He's got a very long attention span. He is interested in learning. He was just playing, dancing, and singing, but at the same time he's also learning. We did not force him to learn, we did it by playing with him, and the rest he's learned on his own by watching musical videos on youtube and playing in his IPAD.

He's had much at 22 months, what's next? His pedia told me to observe his development as we might be referred to a developmental pedia for assessment that he might be a gifted child or has a high IQ level so we would know how to deal with him so he won't get bored with those repeated tasks he's doing everyday.

Gifted or simply bright? I don't care. As long as he is happy with what he is doing, whatever passion he may have when he grew up, we will definitely support him. I will not force him to excel. As written in a book by Gwendolyn Mitchell Diaz entitled 'MIghty Mom's Secrets for Raising Super Kids' - "AVERAGE IS OKAY, EXCELLENT IS
SOMETIMES OVERRATED". Yes it's true.

No matter what, I'm still a proud mom!