He's an introvert!

This week marks Kevin's last week with the babysitter that he's had since I went back to work (part-time) a few months after he came home. There he has had 1-on-2 attention with 1-on-1 when the babysitter's husband was home. The other boy is younger than him and pretty much worships the ground on which Kevin walks.

Next week, Kevin will go to his preschool/daycare when I'm at work as our babysitter is moving away. It is a good time to transition as he'll be going to preschool in the fall to prepare for kindergarten and by going through their summer program, he'll get used to working and playing with other kids, learning not to be distracted by everyone else, learning to listen to the teacher, learning how to stand in a line, etc.

Today was Kevin's practice day at the preschool. We were there for 4 hours during which time I tried not to interact with him at all except when we first arrived. He slowly warmed up a bit. He wasn't more or less shy than I expected, which was good.

On the (bike) ride home, he dozed off in the trailer and I was sure he was hot, thirsty and hungry (he had one piece of pizza and a juice box for lunch - obviously, I'll need to pack him some extra sustenance.) When we got home, he sat in a chair in the kitchen while I unpacked our stuff and decided what to make myself for lunch. I offered him lots of things but all he had was a sip of water, all the while lumped in his chair like a rag doll. I asked if he wanted to lay down and rest on his bed (ha ha) and he said - *gasp* - "Yes." Off he went to his room, he got up on the bed, took off his shoes AND socks (my friends, never have his feet seen the light of day) and got under the covers. He seemed ok so I left the room and about 5 minutes later, I heard him rustling around. I thought he was coming back out but when I peeked into his room, I saw him getting books off of his shelf. He took them back to the bed with him and he laid there, looking at books ALL BY HIMSELF for 30 minutes! Never did he come out of his room or even ask me to come in and read to him. He was in a SEPARATE ROOM ALL BY HIMSELF.

I was stunned. And happy. And relieved to know that he needed some alone time to refresh after a day of over-peopling. Now he knows how we feel when we say we need a break. Ok, so he doesn't really get it at all, but someday he'll realize that's what we're talking about - how good it feels to lay in bed with a pile of books all alone for a few minutes.