Thanks for your help...

Sounds normal to me.

>2. preference for red - yesterday he was coloring and took all of

My son (and now sons) like blue, but my older one declared that when he was 4 he would like red. He's 4 now but still prefers blue in most cases. For a while, any color option was answered, "blue," and still is by the younger one.

>3. singing/memorization - he knows so many songs I've lost track of

Cool! :)

>4. language - my son is bilingual and has understood for a long time

My sons have large vocabularies, too, and started out semi-bilingual. One thing about multiple languages with youngsters is to make sure that each person speaks one language with them. They can't differentiate between abstract tags, but can differentiate between concrete ones (the Mommy-language and the Daddy-language). Maybe he doesn't have a basis for picking with strangers?

I suggest "An Anthropologist On Mars" by Oliver Sacks, in part because it's an interesting book, but also in part because he talks at length about various forms of autism and savantism (sorry, not sure of the word; I just mean unusually precocious talents) mixed and unmixed with normal behavior.

Congratulations, you're going to have your hands full. But don't be surprised if some of this fades with time--two is a young age for making assessments, but you should definitely talk to your doctor about his talents.

Memorizing songs and lines in books is a healthy part of their development. My son is bi-lingual as well, and I translate a lot of books. Sometimes I use a different word but my son is very quick to point this out because he knows all the lines. The same with the video's he watches, he knows every sound and line of his favorite videos.

When my son was about 2 1/2, he really understood that some people speak English and some speak the other language. He has no problem switching back and forth. I also read that bilingual children are children are slower in their development, but I found this to be not true in our case, and not in yours either from what you tell me. Now that my son is older, he translates perfectly for me and others. I will tell him something in our language, and he translates it in English for for others. It is amazing how their brains works. I have never experienced a lack in his development due to him having to learn two languages at the same time. I do think his English pronunciation and sentence structure is a little bit more advanced in English since he goes to day care everyday and speaks mostly English.

Your son sound like a healthy two year old. Have fun, this is truly a wonderful age and not at all "terrible."

You should realize that from that description, your child sounds totally great. On the other hand, I am not one to judge overly-worrisome parents, being a champion in that arena myself. So, here's an anecdote that might help ease your mind. My mother-in-law loves to tell how my husband used to line all his hundred-plus match box cars up in a row and then advance the whole row, one car length at a time, until they reached the other side of the house (45 minutes later). This was one of his favorite childhood passtimes. Think of the quiet, happy hours they spent. And he turned out to be a really relaxed, extremely intelligent guy. His only resemblance to Dustin Hoffman is a...distinctive nose. Good luck with your kid.

HOWEVER, I am not a physician or a diagnostician, just a teacher who sees similar characteristics among many of my students. I strongly urge you to contact your pediatrician about your concerns as soon as possible and/or the Regional Center of the East Bay. They have specialists who do free assessments of young children to determine if there is a developmental delay or disorder of some sort. In my experience, pediatricians often know very little about autistic-like behaviors, and because your child talks, s/he may minimize your concerns, but be persistent and try to get a referral to a specialist who has expertise in this area. Time is really of the essence, and the sooner you can find out if there IS a problem, the sooner you can a) get your child some help or b) have your mind put at ease. I'd be happy to talk further with you if you'd like. amy

>1. line things up - he is always putting things (cars, books, french >fries) in straight lines, end to end. Pretty normal, though not all kids do it, of course. Some do it a lot. Some do it and have fits when they can't do it exactly the way they want to, or someone moves one a quarter of an inch. Sounds like your son is in the comfortable middle there.

>2. preference for red - yesterday he was coloring and took all of the >reddish colored crayons out of the giant box of crayons.

Ditto. When he starts throwing tantrums because there aren't exactly nine reddish crayons, that's the time to start worrying. Or when some meddlesome person decides it's unhealthy for him to like red so much and starts forcing him to use other colors first (as if it would do him any good).

>3. singing/memorization - he knows so many songs I've lost track of >all of the ones he knows. Not normal--better than normal.

>4. language - my son is bilingual and has understood for a long time >that if someone doesn't understand what he is saying in one language, >that he should just switch to the other language.... >he has an incredibly large vocabulary, a lot more than other little >boys his age that I've seen. Another talent. The language-switching is particularly impressive--most two-year-olds I've known can't comprehend that other people may not understand them regardless of language; sensing another's comprehension, or lack thereof, and adapting his speech to suit, is really advanced. The big vocabulary would seem to go along with the talent for memorization. The speech areas in his brain must be top-of-the-line.

Having said that, however, you did not mention how your son relates to the individuals in his life, his affect and capacity to bond and his general ease of "relatedness." I am by no means a professional in this area, but rather am the adult child of a well-known expert in the field of autism, and recently my father has focussed his psychiatric practice on a specific form of autism called "Asperger's Syndrome." We all were so impressed with Andy Warhol's inventiveness, but it is now known that he had Asperger's, and that his famous Campbell Soup cans were no accident (but rather the product of how his mind related to objects). In any event, I don't know when an evaluation might be called for - if of course at all - or at what age a diagnosis can be made, but this came to mind reading your question. Kids with Aspergers, according to my very limited understanding, are highly capable, often highly intelligent, but have issues around relatedness, repetition, and in most cases, appropriate behavior management. Best of luck to you and your family.

Just because you don't see a "purpose" in your son's lining books or toy cars up doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't have one -- maybe it's just interesting to him to see how long a line he can make. Memorizing an entire video does sound precocious (can he recite the entire video in its absence, or does he sing/talk along with it while it's playing?)

Anyway to me what you described doesn't sound worrisome, though he may be quite "advanced" in certain areas (music, verbal skills, logic perhaps.) Are there other worrisome things -- is he antisocial, is he nonresponsive to affection, does he use his language to interact with you or does he just repeat things meaninglessly? If you can interact with him and he seems happy, I wouldn't worry . . . but you could always seek professional advice if you're worried that he's maladjusted, unhappy, or unable to function normally.