Coming Out of His Shell

{Little Boy's metaphorical empty shell}


A few months ago, I posted about Little Boy's shyness and my feelings about that.  He's always been very shy.  And I think that will always be a part of his personality. 

But.

Things are changing.

I first noticed it last Sunday.  I'm not a Sunbeam teacher anymore, so I'm not with him all day on Sunday.  I'm now the Primary Secretary, which means I can still be close to him--but not as close as before.  I had a feeling that this would be a good change.  And it WAS.  He played with the other kids.  It's not that I ever prevented him from interacting with the other kids...I encouraged him to play with them.  But I guess he didn't need to, as long as I was there.  Now that I'm not in the classroom with him, he's still with people that he's familiar with--which I think is an important part of it--and he's comfortable enough that he can interact with them when I'm not there.

And...he talked to our waitress at a Chinese restaurant on Monday.

And he talks to my family more than he used to.

And today, when we had a playdate, he was LOUD.  And he laughed a lot.  Not that he doesn't laugh, just not when other people are around. 

I'm so proud of him.  And I'm pretty excited to see where this goes next.