2 Years, 2 Months

Whitney is two years, two months old today.  A friend posted THIS ARTICLE on Facebook today, and it made me think. Whitney is smart.  Like, REALLY smart.  Bear with me as I brag about my kid on my blog a bit.
Why? Because.....
* Whitney clearly speaks in complete sentences and even looong paragraphs.  She gives great detail and asks probing questions when she dosnt understand something or wants a "better" answer.

*Whitney recalls information from MONTHS ago.
-"Faith didnt keep her prize from the bag."...her friend Faith had a goody bag with small prizes SEVERAL months ago, and WHitney jsut found the small jewlry that Faith discarded from the bag. She remembered where it came from and the details of a brief event that occured months ago.
- "I hear an airplane! Dey fwyin' to Casa de Campo!" (We took a family trip to Casa de Campo in March. Three months ago. She still remembers the name of the resort and the fact that we traveled by plane.  She also recalls great detail about the actual trip, recalling that she didnt like the "sea gwass" but that "sea gwass doesnt hurt".
- just two examples from recent history

*Whitney recognizes locations and signs, even though she cant read (yet)
-pulling into Gym class, she shouts "I see Miss Shannon!!!!", her gym teacher. Granted, she attends gym class weekly, but she has started calling out "Mommy! We goin' to gym cwass!" before we are in the parking lot, or when we are in stores/on roads NEAR her gym class.)
-I told her ONE time, "Wave to Daddy's office!" as we passed Eric's building.  Two weeks later, we were onthe same road again and Whitney gasped and said, "Mommy! Wave to Daddy! 'Hiiii, Daddy!'"

*Whitney knows all 26 letters of the alphabet, upper and lowercase. More importantly, she knows all the sounds the letters make.

*Whitney can spell her first name (although she thinks it is hilarious to say, "W-H-I-....J-K-L-M-N-O-P!" the first time we ask her.) She can easily and quickly recognize her first and last name, either together or independently.

*Whitney can quickly count to 14 on her own, and understands there is a one-to-one ratio when counting items. 
-counting stickers, she told me to "stop stop stop! Dat is numb-uh fir-teen. Den comes foo-teen."...admittedly, she say words like "thirteen" and "fourteen" with toddlerease, but she KNOWS the words and their meaning.
-She can count to 20 some days, but I wouldnt 'count it' since she isnt consistent yet. 

*Whitney knows shapes.  Some I only named once or twice, as I thought "she's too young to understand that one yet."
-circle, oval, square, diamond, octagon, pentagon, rectangle, trapezoid, star, heart, triangle
-she often points out different shapes in the world around her (ie, "Mommy! Wook at all da twi-angles!" at Disney.)
-she acknowledges that triangles have three sides and rectangles and squares have four sides.

*Whitney knows that we live in "Fwo-i-duh" (florida), and, when asked, she can tell us the names of the family members who live in Massachusetts, Texas, Ohio, and (when they lived there) Belgium. She can also answer the question, "Where was Mommy born?" (Mississippi).



*Whitney recalls quotes and lines from movies regularly. 
-We couldnt figure out why she was suddenly saying "Ummmm, nevermind!!" until I watched "TinkerBell and the Great Fairy Rescue" with her (again) last week.  The little girl, Lizzie, says this casually to her father in the movie.
-She regularly repeats movie quotes and always uses them in context. I was never opposed to television or movies when Whitney was an infant, and I really think Whitney's vocabulary is so amazing because she heard conversational vocabulary and listened to characters express their feelings from a very young age.  *I* might be losing brain cells from listening to too much Disney Channel over the last two years, and I never sat her in front of the tv and ignored her, but I will never ever tell a new mommy to limit television.  I just say "make wise tv choices" when the kid is awake. I never sat around watching MY shows while Whitney was awake. That waited til nap time. Again....I am certain that a lot of mathematical theorems and psychological research and teaching methodology that was once stored in my brain has been replaced with lines from Toy Story, Snow White, and Team Umizoomi.  All worth it. :) I also NEVER, EVER stopped talking to Whitney.  I still talk to her allllllllll day loooooong, but I really over-did it when Whitney was an infant. I basically narrated our entire day to her. I dont "dummy down" my vocabulary or tone with her, using baby talk.  And I try my best to always give her reasons WHY things are the way they are. (ie, "Oh, you arent allowed to touch that Whitney. It might fall and break and that would make a mess." or "I really want you to brush your teeth because you have such pretty teeth and we want to keep them nice and white." It works and it gives her a reason instead of "just because I said so!"

*Whitney reached/continues to reach typical milestones early.
-Whitney walked early (9.5 months). She could jump and throw a ball overhand early.  She skips/gallops already. She can catch a softball or tennis ball fairly consistently.  (And on that note, Whitney recognizes and can name a LOT of different sports. Football, soccer, baseball, golf, and tennis are obviously different sports/activities to her.  She walked past the tv the other day and saw the coverage of Wimbledon. She said "Mommy! Doze girls are pwaying tennis! Dey pwaying tennis, Mommy! i WUV tennis!!" Be still my beating heart. :)

*Whitney can focus on books, movies, puzzles, and otehr activities for a very long time.  She can easily sit through an entire movie, even telling us what will happen next in her favorite movies.  She recites many of her favorite books and prayers before we get to the page the words are intended for.  She can do the big wooden puzzles with shapes and numbers and letters. She isnt interested in typical free-form puzzles with edges and whee you have to put the picture together, but I only have 12+piece puzzles like that. I wonder if I gave her a 4 or 6 piece puzzle with a picture to construct if she would like it more.

*Whitney really likes to color.  She can draw semi-straight lines (straight = not ruler-straight, but close enough) and likes to draw circles.  She was 'writing" on her paper on Friday and making obvious/deliberate marks with her crayon. She was quietly saying, "Fay-wee Weeeee-seeaaarrrrrch", which is a line from Lizzie in the TinkerBell movie, where she is writing a book about "Fairy Research".

*Whitney follows rules.
-The first night in her big girl bed, we told Whitney "there are two rules: no jumping, and do not get out of bed without Mommy or Daddy." So far, we are a month into Big Girl Bed-Land, and Whitney has not gotten out of her bed without either Mommy or Daddy in the room. In addition, she calls us from her bed to tell us she has to go potty, and has only wet her bed a handful of times in the 2+weeks she has been potty-trained.

I am aware that each of these things do not make Whitney a genius or even "gifted".  I am aware that typing this all out will spark drama somewhere amongst the mommyfolk of the internet. I know that IQ tests are not typically accurate til after the age of five, and that an "early talker" does not always mean the child will grow to be a smarter-than-average adult.  I know that I had several Doubting Doras who were convinced Whitney "could not" potty train yet. (ahem...cough, cough...she COULD and she DID.) I am aware that Whitney is two. I am aware that she is "ahead", regardless of whether she stays ahead or eventually falls behind.  Right now, today (and quite frankly, for the past 2 years) Whitney is ahead and I am doing my best to encourage her appropriately.
 Whitney continues to make life easy on us. Sure, she has her moments when she acts "like a typical two year old", but she is pretty easy to reason with, and I dont believe that is true of "most" toddlers.  Do I think this will translate easily and seamlessly into report cards with "straight A's" and science fair ribbons and college scholarships?? No. Could it? Yes.  And why wouldnt I want to encourage Whitney's love of learning and incredible memory at a young age? Why would I assume she WONT always be ahead of the pack? Yes, I suspect the playing field will eventually even out.  Two year olds who are only saying a few words now will eventually catch up given the right interactions and experiences. More than likely, the gap will close and Whitney will eventually be amongst peers with the same verbal skills, imaginations, and diva-licious tendencies. It does make it difficult now, since I am continually on a hunt to keep Whitney entertained and engaged with new experiences and environments without overwhelming her.  My mom jokingly says to me, "Ya know, you dont have to teach her ALL the time, EVERY moment of the day..." when I tell her about our days and the funny/fun/new/exciting things Whitney says and does.  The funny thing is, Im NOT consciously "teaching" Whitney all day long.  She is just a little sponge, and I choose to expose her to things that are generally not "for toddlers" or kids her age. I think teaching and, more specfically, recognizing and utilizing the many "teachable moments" we encounter throughout the day comes naturally to me, much the same way that learning comes naturally to Whitney.  And I think that makes us a nice team :) Again, do I claim to be raising a genius or the world's smartest toddler? No.  Just here to brag and blog about my favorite girl who thrives on making her Mommy and Daddy proud....and that's innate.  I couldnt teach her that if I tried.  She comtinues to be amongst the happiest kids Ive ever met, having far more "excellent" days than "bad" moments.  She loves to say "Mommy, you soo happy!" and "Mommy, you so proud!" when she says or does something she knows we approve of.  If she only knew...............

(i got side-tracked several times while typing this blog....sorry for anything that seems disjointed or random. I told you Ive lost brain cells....)

She continues to have fun scavenging cool stuff from my old sunglasses/glasses/bracelets/rings stash.

She looks like such a big kid here! I miss all her chunky rolls and chubby cheeks!

Princess Whitney waiting to meet Tinker Bell at Epcot!

She LOVES to pretend to read and really enjoys reading books together before bed each night.  I caught her 'reading" to her princesses recently :)