Our Introvert

Our trip up north revealed to us that our delightful little guy (or our big boy as we call him) is an introvert at heart. He needs his quiet alone time to be recharged. We had a small glimpse of that when we were in India but it was much more evident after spending many days in a large family gathering and meeting people constantly. He is a very independent player and can self entertain (which has been tremendously helpful) really well. His imagination and ability to pretend play is pretty amazing to see. He enjoys people joining in on what he is doing, but after a while, he really needs his space.

Mila, Seth, Christian, Elijah, and Jeshua

I remember one morning during our Carmel trip, P came over and shared with me that he was going to take a walk with E. Of course when his cousin Mila heard what uncle P was up to, she wanted to join them. P noticed that morning that E was particularly "prickly" (as P put it) and he thought perhaps it was because he needed some alone time. I am so thankful for how attuned P is to E's needs because honestly, it's been harder for me since my attention is divided in three different directions. P's insight was right on because when they returned from their walk, E was in a good mood and ready to reengage with people. Because he is able to verbalize his needs, E shared while we were in Santa Rosa and when he heard that more people were coming, he said, "No, I don't want people coming over." That evening, he and I spent probably over half an hour with the door closed just reading books before going out to say hello and engage with people. He just really needed that time.

All this is a good reminder for me as a parent that being M-kids can be taxing for them at times as they go with their parents from one place to next, meeting people with whom they may only see once every few years. The adults are delighted to see them but for them, for the kids some of the people are many faces that have no real significance for them. I think this will be something that P and I will need to be mindful of as we plan, travel, and meet with people because there are lots of significant relationships in varying degrees for us that are important to us but may not have any significance for our kids.