DD#2 arrived as our Bonus Baby in the winter of 2001. She has been a ray of sunshine since day one, if I can overlook the nightly 7:00 melt down she had for the first 6 months of her life, only soothed with "walk About", her dad's term for his walk around the house with her, talking softly. The melt down didn't last long. As a toddler and preschooler, she was confident and outgoing-almost too outgoing, and would approach everyone as friends and family. Somewhere in elementary school, a shyness started, and has gotten even more pronounced as she ended middle school and moving into high school. Once she talks to people, she is sociable, but making the first move starting a conversation outside her immediate family or close friends is challenging. There are some idiosyncrasy with her. Put a microphone in front of her, and she has no shyness singing in a choir or even a solo. Reading out loud, at church or at school also is not a a problem. It is the initiating of an organic conversation that is so hard for her.
She just had her first cross country meet. Interesting, there seems to be many introverts on the team, and personalities like hers. She told me about her team dinner in which hardly anyone was really speaking to each other last night, but gradually as they all ended up in a nearby park, the ran and played games like 10 year olds, and had a great time.This is just how she is, I guess. Once she opens up to people, she is a great conversationalist. She is also very comfortable in her own company, and enjoying things that make her happy, even if the activities are against the popular tide.
Today, reminiscent of her final middle school meet two years ago, she lost her shoe mid way through her race. Not wanting to stop either time to fix, she picked it up and kept running. This reminded her teammates of the earlier incident, and created an instant conversation starter this morning. Other kids might have panicked, but that is one of the many things I love about my kid. She just deals. She didn't make it an excuse for having a less than stellar performance, she just worked with it. She may be shy, and finds meeting new people, or even being the first to engage with people she has known for years, excruciatingly painful, but the mishaps that happen in life, are just taken in stride. She is my shoe less wonder.
She sounds like an enormous blessing :)
ReplyDeleteAnd coming from a fellow introvert she has a special talent if she's able to belt it out at the mic. or read out loud in public! It sounds to me like she has a very good sense of self worth and self confidence she's just a good old fashioned introvert. Good job raising that one momma!
Thank you! Her dad helped a bit. No doubt we'll have a few head butts the next four years but I feel blessed with all my kids.
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