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.)

Earliest walker, earliest talker, earliest runner

A cot is a place of safety for a baby. A place in which a baby may be placed and left alone, leaving the parents with the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the baby could not be anywhere else, but within its' cage-like bars.

This supposition used to be our own, too. But, when Ainan was eight months old, we would find him running about the house, after he had been placed in his cot. He would laugh when we saw him, knowing that he was being mischievous. Sometimes, he would then run back to his cot, and climb back in, as he had climbed out. At only eight months, he was athletic enough to climb into and out of his cot, at will.

Our naivety at our son's abilities was so great that when a representative of a child development company saw our four month old son crawling around the house and said: "You have a super baby!", we asked: "How do you know?" He was silent in reply, which in retrospect was unfair of him: it would have been nice to get an experienced perspective on our child instead of stumbling forward unawares, as we did.

At six and a half months, Ainan was walking confidently, freely and steadily, without difficulty. He was running by eight months. Note that the average child doesn't run until fifteen months. He moved from one level of achievement to another, and learned the new skill at high level, almost at once. He walked as if he had always walked, ran as if he had always run.

Is Ainan the earliest walker on Earth? We don't know...the information on the topic is sparse, but we haven't found an earlier example of motor development, on the net. It seems certain that he is the earliest runner, since that skill came very quickly upon the heels of walking. His brothers, too, are among the earliest walkers. Fintan Nadym Cawley, his brother of three, was crawling at six months and walking at eight months. Tiarnan Hasyl Cawley was crawling at four months and one week and started standing, while holding onto household objects, within two weeks. (Note that an average baby won’t do this until at least eight months.) He also began to crawl upstairs, unaided, at five months and two weeks, on the 6th July 2006. (Babies are typically twelve months old before they master stairs.) A week later he was able to squat down, in a controlled fashion, from a standing position. (An average baby tries this when they are nine or ten months.)

I have more detailed records for Tiarnan than for Ainan, because when Ainan was doing these things, we weren't really aware that they were remarkable: it was just the way he was.

Not only are they the earliest walkers, they are the earliest talkers, too: Ainan speaking his first words after a couple of weeks of life, Tiarnan in his second month. Again, we find no earlier example.

Any parent of a gifted child bears a responsibility to help them become whatever they can be: if my words can help some readers gain a perspective on their own gifted child, I would be pleased.

(For further posts on Ainan Celeste Cawley, six, a scientific child prodigy, and his gifted brothers, go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

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