Hello all,
feel free to direct me to the correct place if I'm posting in the wrong spot...

I'll try and make this as short a story as possible, to save you all the boredom!!

Ever since she was born, DD has been extremely advanced. Walking at nine months, for instance, and our GP assures me that she is in fact very smart and ahead of other kids her age developmentally (she referred to DD as 'a 3-year-old stuck in the body of an 18-month-old).
Now, as happy as I am to have a very intelligent, inquisitive, independent and gorgeous little girl, there is a downside to the good (isn't there always?!).
Nobody I know can believe how stubborn, wilful, ignorant (of discipline/instruction), rambunctious and just generally mischievous DD can be. She is 17 months old and, while she can do things like use a fork and dress herself, she can also throw a prize tantrum (usually over nothing) and gets very, very irate if not allowed to have her own way.

She is ALWAYS busy - running, climbing, jumping, fidgeting (with things she shouldn't be!), harrassing our pets (and the grown-ups!)... my best friend has a son who is 8 weeks older and he has barely begun walking - he'll sit quietly in a corner playing with his toys, whereas DD can never, ever have eyes taken off her for a minute for fear of her getting into something. Nobody else understands that this is just the way she has always been, it's not because I'm feeding her sugar or artificial colourings, she is just a quirky, mischievous little thing always looking for the next exciting activity to come her way (and yes, she does flit from activity to activity faster than I can pick my nose). To me, she's a perfectly normal toddler - this is how she has been since the day she was born, and since she's my first and only, I only know what I'm used to, and this is it. To me (and I know this sounds awful) every other baby her age is 'slow' and I worry that there must be something wrong with them because they just sit there staring at nothing, whereas DD is never short of energy.


Today, I had an appointment with the midwife at my local hospital for antenatal clinic (my first at the hospital for this pregnancy) and while we were going through paperwork and discussing everything, DD was being her usual loud, into-everything self. The midwife asked me if I'd fed her anything unusual today, and my response was, 'No, just Weet-bix. This is totally normal for her, she's like this all the time.'
The midwife looked at me, looked at DD (who at that moment was climbing a chair to turn the taps on so she could wash her hands) and frankly informed me, 'She's ADD, obviously.'

Well, I don't know. How early is too early to diagnose ADD? What *IS* ADD/ADHD? What are some experiences from other mums out there - do you have noisy, easily-bored kids that are totally normal or is any kid who doesn't sit quietly and eat their dinner a case for medication? Should I take her to our GP to talk about having her tested? What are the tests?

I just have a lot of questions and no answers. I don't know how this would affect us if the midwife is right. I'm not sure what to do or what to think, or how to feel.
Any advice would be very, very welcome. Thanks in advance, ladies.