Concerned Mother of a Young Child

[lizmo135]

My daughter will be 3 in August. However she's always been extremely advanced. She's been talking in full sentences for over a year, taught herself the alphabet before 18 months. Knew numbers, letters colors and shapes before she was two. In short, she's very bright. However, recently she's developed a habit of studdering randomly, followed by these awkward laughs.. She'll also randomly laugh differently.. Not at anything at all, just walk around the house 'fake' laughing.. I know that children have very vivid imaginations, But the things she tells me she's been seeing make me very uncomfortable.. She says she sees Flys constantly, when I see nothing at all. And different scary things too. Before she would see a dinosaur in the tree outside of her window all the time. And today she kept crying at nap, first saying her door wouldn't stop rocking, then pointing to her wall saying "the wall, it's climbing up the wall..me momma" while looking from the floor to the ceiling. After the third time when she pointed at her mirror, just bawling and saying, "there, There.." I was so scared for her I brought her out to the livingroom to lay next to me. It really bothers me bc the only time the TV is on when she's awake, it's set to educational children's shows. So she doesn't see things like this on television. She's also been randomly covering her ears for short periods of time.. Neither her father or myself have any family history of mental illness. I majored in early childhood edu and am aware that these types of things happen with young children and they typically outgrow them. But all of these things happening at the same time are very worrisome. Am I just overreacting or is there something serious going on? Please help me.

[lizmo135]

Thank you so much for your advice! I was thinking the same thing, but in the same sense, I didn't want to brush it off as nothing if it was more than wanting more attention from me and knowing how to get it..

[Sandman2]

  Opps, just looked at your pic and saw the little one in your arms.  So answered my own question.   The thing with very smart kids is that they problem solve very rapidly.  It may well be that she has found a way to get a bit more of your attention, and is discovering more ways to do so.  Hopefully, other members will post with ideas.  But, I think that ignoring some of her things, distracting her at other times, paying a bit more attention to her if possible.  She is getting close to the age when naps will not be necessary.  If you still want her to nap, I would read to her in her room.   You do not want her to start thinking she can come out and lay with you.  Hope this helps.

[Sandman2]

    Hummm, well she is only two.  Sometimes, this can kind of be a way of getting attention.  Do you have a new baby on the way? or one that is already there that is taking up more of your time?