Periodic update.
Ren is a year and a half today. His language skills have exploded and he counts to 10 and says and signs dozens of words. He loves his dog, numbers, books, water, and the outside. He also loves other people and is a total extrovert.
He is starting to identify letters. I’m in awe of how smart, kind, and fearless he is.
Seeing him and you so happy made my day.
What a cutie!! Thanks for the picture, Romani!
Thanks for the joyful photo and update!
Love your updates! He is adorable - a bright spot in the midst of a crazy world.
Adorable! Enjoy every minute with your precious boy!
Great to see Ren and hear about what he’s up to lately. Such a fun companion! Happy for all of you.
This made my morning ! What a happy picture - thank you for taking the time to post it.
Such a cutie! I’m glad you’re having fun with him. 
Yes, I’m definitely having a blast with him. He has absolutely no fear of anything which is terrifying. He is constantly trying to find new and innovative ways to hurt himself. He managed to chip most of his front tooth off… and I’m still not entirely sure how.
But he also has an enormous love of meeting new people and taking on new things. When we go to parks and pools, he just straight up tries to join new families 
. He has befriended all of the lifeguards and goes and “talks” to them at the pool.
I really lucked out with him for the most part. He’s an easy going baby and even when he’s cranky, he’s easy to calm with a song.
So glad to see your update. I really cannot believe he is 18 months old!
How are you doing and feeling? Hope you are feeling good. Thanks!
I got an alert about something so figured I’d swing in for an update. It’s astonishing to me to read back less than 2 months ago. He is developing so rapidly that it is mind boggling.
He can count as high as he wants now. Knows numbers up to 99 (his current favorite thing is telling us the numbers he sees on the Nest or clocks) and can count backwards at least from 10. He can also count in his head when you ask for how many of something.
He knows all his letters and their sounds. He also knows some sight words. So far he can read about 15 words including mama, dada, his name, exit, and bingo.
He’s still a water and music baby but we’re also starting to get into more typical toddler tantrums.
We also took him to his first farm a couple days ago. Predictably, he had no fear of any animals of any size and was really determined to be one with the chickens.
Being able to sight read at his age is really quite remarkable!
I know 
I’m pretty sure he’s significantly smarter than me. Which is honestly kind of scary. I feel like I’m barely able to keep up as it is.
He is intensely curious and has always been. He also seems to have an incredible memory.
That’s the way I felt about my oldest who also taught himself to read at two. It was an adventure.
For those who still have the link to Ren’s album, I put up a video of him reading and finding words.
That is remarkable! We have been wondering about D2’s future stepson (she and fiance have him every other weekend, and some holidays). He is approaching 4 soon (mid-March) and his speech seems rather delayed to me. No way he can count past 20 and he is just starting to put sentences together instead of using one word and lots of pointing. Haven’t wanted to seem critical, so I’ve kept my mouth shut.
He does seem bright, seems to understand everything, makes lots of eye contact, smiles a lot and is incredibly affectionate, so he may catch up at his own pace. But your son sounds not only on track, but WAY ahead! Enjoy this time-very happy for you all!
As you know, children develop at their own pace. I wouldn’t be too concerned about a child whose expressive speech seems a bit slow. He sounds perfectly normal to me. My nephew was a late talker and ended up as a National Merit Finalist and a West Point grad. One of my sons was slow to catch on to reading. He was in the lowest reading group (below grade level) in 1st and the beginning of 2nd grade. Around the age of 8 he was ready to decode. He was in the highest reading group by 4th grade, and will graduate from college next week with an English major.
I agree, Ren seems exceptionally precocious.
I’m optimistic you are right.
I don’t really remember at what pace “average” kids develop. But I have known of more than a few children who were delayed in some aspect of their development who went on to be quite accomplished.
Back in the 70s our neighbors were told their daughter was “mentally ■■■■■■■■.” She went on to be the class Valedictorian and is a very respected physician!
My older son was also exceptionally precocious. He seems to be particularly wired for visual things so he just learned to read at the same time he learned to talk. He sees patterns. He also figured out multiplication and fractions in pre-school.
My other kid didn’t read until second grade when the lightbulb finally clicked. He went straight to Harry Potter.
The older one is still very smart, he does stuff we don’t understand at Google, but he’s not terribly user friendly. The younger one probably has some learning differences and is probably slightly ADHD. (Lots of testing no definitive answers.) He was always really plugged into the other people’s emotions and motivations, very good at strategy games. He’s a Naval officer now.
