He's a Small Wonder.

A few days ago, I heard my son singing this out of the blue, "Naega jeil jal naga... naega jeil jal naga!" This means "I am the best", which is the chorus of 2NE1's hit song, I Am the Best. I was astonished, of course, because as far as I could remember, he heard this song no less than five times before. 


And then the other day, while we were at Bench shopping for my Super Junior shirt, the little man began belting out, "I love you, Baby I'm not a monster, Neon al janha ireoke kajima!" 
That's from the chorus of Big Bang's Monster, with the Hangul part meaning "You know me so don't leave like this." While he hears this song quite often - from the MYX Daily Top 10, at Arirang's Pops in Seoul, and from my 'Still Alive' CD - I never thought he'd be able to decipher the lyrics considering it's a Big Bang song.


My son has a pretty good memory - something I discovered even before he turned two. But I never expected his memory to be THIS amazing. 

He could already be working on his undergraduate thesis for all I know, lol.

Today, I came across an article from Austega, which gave me a better understanding of giftedness in my child. Looking at it from a broader spectrum, a gifted child exhibits exceptional ability in terms of the following:

• general intellect
• specific academic aptitude
• creative thinking and production
• leadership
• psychomotor
• visual and performing arts

A detailed list of characteristics can be found in this article.

The Circle of Moms simplifies this with an easy-to-understand checklist. The '20 Signs of Giftedness' are listed below:

1. Has early interest in words and reading
2. Has exceptionally large vocabulary for their age
3. Learns rapidly, easily and efficiently
4. Is curious about objects or situations, asks provocative questions; enjoys exploratory activities
5. Has an unusually strong memory, but is bored with memorization and recitation
6. Is flexible in thinking patterns; makes unusual associations between remote ideas 
7. Is independent
8. Has a wide range of interests
9. Demonstrates unusual reasoning power
10. Likes structure, order and consistency
11. Show unusual degrees of originality, concentration and persistent hard work on projects that capture their interest and imagination
12. Is perceptually open to his or her environment
13. Has an advanced sense of humor
14. Is sensitive to the feelings of others
15. Shows more interest in creative effort and new activities than in routine and repetitive tasks
16. Shows an intense interest and aptitude in an artistic activity, such as drawing, singing, dancing, writing, or playing a musical instrument
17. Is intellectually playful, interested in fantasy, imagination 
18. Acts as a leader among children of their own age
19. Tries to excel in almost everything she does
20. Senses when problems exist; always trying to adapt or improve things

*Note that no one gifted child exhibits all of these characteristics.

Highlighted in bold are the traits which we have observed in my son so far. And by 'we' that means I, my siblings, Yue's kindergarten teacher, and even the school directress.

Feel free to refer to this list as you discover and nourish the giftedness of your own child. As for me, I'm looking forward to being further amazed and astounded by my little progeny. :)