A friend came over for a playdate on Friday and commented on how different – i.e. lively – Avery was acting. While Avery has historically been quiet and prone to stick by my side during playdates, this time she ran around the house, laughing and playing and interacting with both my friend and her two sons. “She has really come out of her shell,” my friend declared.

It was tempting to think that Avery was acting more like what I consider her real self because her sister, who also had the day off school, was there with us and Avery felt especially comfortable. But I now think it’s more than that, as evident by the next night, when Avery ran around and played with children at a dinner party we attended, and by a few things we heard at our first parent-teacher conference earlier on Friday.

Her teachers told us that though it took Avery a bit to get used to her environment, she’s now engaged and interactive during class. She’s often laughing, they said (and when I asked if she was happy they responded with a resounding, “Yes!”) and they used the word “funny” to describe her more than once. They also said that just last week she started showing her “feisty side” – grabbing a toy out of a classmate’s hand and gently pushing another child. And though I was slightly horrified to hear this, the teachers thought it was terrific. (“Was that Avery??” they said they asked one another when they saw it happen.) It means, just as my friend said, that she’s coming out of her shell and feeling comfortable enough to really express herself.

I guess Avery just needed some time (27 months, to be exact) to show off her true self!

-M

This entry was posted on Monday, November 14th, 2011 at 12:52 pm and is filed under 64.Two kids-November 11. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.