The Earliest Walkers On Earth...First Steps Of Child Prodigies

    /24-7PressRelease/ - SINGAPORE, August 14, 2006 -
The eldest child, Ainan Celeste Cawley, born on the 23rd November 1999, was crawling at four months and walking confidently at six and a half months old. He is now six years old.

The second child, Fintan Nadym Cawley, born on the 25th June 2003, was crawling at a respectable six months and walking at eight months. He has just turned three.

The third child, Tiarnan Hasyl Cawley, born on the 20th January 2006, was able to hold his own head up, unsupported and look around, on the day he was born. (Note: most babies are six months old before they can support their own head properly, having first started to lift their heads, briefly, at one to two months.*) He began to crawl at four months and one week. (An average baby is nine or ten months old before they start to do that.*) and started standing, while holding onto household objects, within two weeks. (Note that an average baby won't do this until at least eight months.*) He also began to crawl upstairs, unaided, at five months and two weeks, on the 6th July 2006. (Babies are typically twelve months old before they master stairs.*) A week later he was able to squat down, in a controlled fashion, from a standing position. (An average baby tries this when they are nine or ten months.*) He is now six months and three weeks old and both crawls steadily and walks from place to place by supporting himself on objects. Sometimes he stands briefly unsupported, by anything, before sitting down again. It should not be long before he is walking without holding onto anything.

The children are half-Irish and half-Singaporean by blood, the father Valentine Cawley, originally from London, of Irish origin, the mother Syahidah Osman, from Singapore, of Malay origin.

It may also be of note that Ainan, the eldest, spoke his first words in his first month, at a couple of weeks of age, read his first letters at eight months, began reading independently at three, and has since shown a precociously developed intellect with a particular gift for Science. Remarkably, Ainan was clearly aware of the meaning and significance of a clock at two months of age, having taken to staring at it, and preparing himself for the return of his mother, at the right time, each evening. He displayed a retentive memory from the beginning, and at twelve months, gave an account of his own birth, from the perspective of someone inside the womb...so clearly this was a genuine memory, since we had not explained how he had come into the world.

Tiarnan, the third child is already showing signs of developing in much the same way.

All three children are highly photogenic and a photo opportunity can be arranged - or we can provide photographs on request, via email.

Telephone Singapore +65 - 6893 - 3387
Or handphone: +65 - 9198 3299

For further information.

* Note: Data on average age for achievement of milestones for babies was taken from Babycentre.com

Biographical details of the parents:

Syahidah Osman, 27 is an artist with a gift for discerning the lines of a face and rendering them with simplicity and clarity. She is ambidextrous and can draw equally well with both hands. Furthermore, she can draw the two halves of a face simultaneously, one with her left, the other with her right hand. She can also draw two faces at the same time. She is seeking gallery/agent representation for her work and is open to portrait commissions, rendered in her inimitable style and method.

Valentine Cawley, 38 has worked variously as a scientist - he was a working physicist at the age of 17 - an actor, a writer and a teacher. One of his works, "Lord Valentine the Misplaced", a piece of performance art, was global news on CNN, and Reuters in 1994 and 1995, respectively. Richard Blystone was the interviewer for CNN and they probably retain the footage. Valentine has since written two books which are being readied for submission to publishers. He is a graduate in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, which he found highly unstimulating - both the course and the University.

Like his wife, he too is ambidextrous, and has been known to give lectures with a pen in both hands, writing on the board, with each, to the delight of his students.

As for his childhood, he read widely from three, memorizing books as he did so, and had a very early interest in Science which Cambridge knocked out of him. However, his son, Ainan, now six years old, has reawakened his interest with his non-stop questioning on everything from black holes and the properties of the artificial transuranics, to the chemistry of the halogens.

As a child, Valentine showed an uncanny memory for all kinds of information, but most notably for music. He could sing or whistle any piece of music on hearing it just once. Pieces performed by memory, at 11, included Mozart's Requiem, and Bach's St. John's Passion, which he sung, in their entirety, without the aid of being able to read music...he couldn't then, and still can't, now.

He believes that the world wastes the gifts of its most gifted, having observed that his own polymathic gifts, as a child, in science, music, art, acting and creative writing, went unappreciated. He is happy, therefore, to see the rebirth of these gifts in his children for there is another chance that they might be fully realized, to the benefit of all.

Should any literary agent be interested in representing his books, they are welcome to contact him.

About Valentine Cawley
I am a creative person who has worked in the areas of acting, writing, and, to an extent, art. I have also been a physicist. My proudest achievement though is in fathering a prodigy...and a baby who looks set to be one.

I have written two books, which I am preparing for publication.

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