Too Smart, Too Fast

I write a lot about how amazed I am with Jonah's speech and mental development. Another great example occurred last night, when we were finishing up dinner.

Michele: Would you like some fruit, Jonah? What kind of fruit? Orange? Grapes?

Jonah (deadpan): Cookie fruit. (laughs)

He is developing so quickly. I look back at my blog posts and see how far he has come in less than a year. This turns out to be a challenge, though, with school. Jonah started preschool early last year. While we were researching schools in January, one of them had an opening in its 2-year old class and invited Jonah to join even though he wasn't two yet (and is actually about 4 months behind the age cutoff for the class). It turned out that he was at least 6 months younger than the other kids in the class. Mentally and verbally, he was pretty close to -- and even ahead of -- some of the other kids. Socially and physically, though, there was a clear difference.

For next year, we, in discussion with his teacher, have decided that he's not ready to move on to the next class. He hasn't started school yet, but we're already questioning the decision. While Michele and I know that his peers who are moving on are a lot more mature and able to handle themselves better, we worry that being in the younger class will slow down his development. Most of the kids in the younger class are considerably younger (6 months or more). As Michele puts it, how can we place our son with kids who are just saying "Mama" while he says "I'm hydrating" while drinking from his Nalgene?

As I reflect, waiting to move him up may not be a bad thing. I think Jonah got off to a fast start with his language skills, but his other developmental areas haven't caught up yet. Having these things out of sync might not be good. Maybe he -- and we -- will be better off if he spends some more time learning how to play with other kids and cooperate with adults.