Tiarnan's speed of reaction

Yesterday Tiarnan showed an interesting side to his physical development: reaction time and co-ordination.

You see, Tiarnan was standing beside the front door to our house. Those of you who have read many of the early postings on my blog will know that this is a very heavy wooden affair. Well, as he was standing there, the door suddenly began to open - and yet Tiarnan was only inches from it when it began to do so. I was too far away to do anything about it - but what impressed me was what Tiarnan himself did about it - he ran backwards, at once. Were he to avoid being struck by the door, there simply wasn't time to turn around - and so he ran backwards. He reacted very fast and began to move as soon as the door began to leap towards him. He did about five or six quick backward steps taking him out of reach of the door.

It was interesting to note that he did not stumble or fall in this backwards motion - and yet it is the first time I have noted him moving backwards like that. It seems he got it right, first time (though he may have run backwards on other occasions unobserved, of course). What was also of note is the speed of reaction he showed: he was so close to that door that, to avoid being struck, he must have begun to move very shortly, indeed, upon perceiving the movement of the door. I think he reacted rather more quickly than a typical adult would do.

Had he been struck by that door, it would have been really unfunny, so heavy is it. There is no doubt that he would have been injured.

I will have to make sure that the guest in question learns the value of knocking on the door, first, before opening it. Not everyone in Singapore behaves as people would in England.

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan, thirteen months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three and Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)