The Shy One

I think every family has at least one.

Ours was the youngest and yes, I said was. "Was" because she has since out grown most of most
her shyness.

Let me give you an idea just how shy this little girl, the baby of four children really was.

She was the baby at the market that people would ooohh and aaahhhh over and she would bury her face in my chest to hide, or later when she was a toddler she would wrap her arms around my leg and bury her face in my leg and hide.

Now don't think that she was shy because we never went out, that is so not the case, she was shy in spite of the fact that her momma was a social butterfly. We were very active since she was born. We went to church every Sunday and Wednesday and Monday morning for MOPS, I was a cub scout and a 4-H leader since she was born so she went with us to meetings and such. Plus, she was born during the time that I was homeschooling the boys and we were active in a homeschool group and she went to all the field trips, activities and meetings for that also. My husband used to joke that I worked harder volunteering during that time than I had worked at work getting paid. Her shyness was a personality trait from the start not a taught or learned trait.

She was the last to be at home with me. Just me and her after everyone else had gotten on the bus and went to school. Yes, they did decide with a little urging from mom that it was time to go back to public school when she was three. I loved it. A little alone time with my baby. But, she yearned to be a big girl, ride the big bus and go to school like her siblings.

Our small town had a half day preschool program so we enrolled her as soon as she was old enough. My little shy girl started school when she was 3.75 yrs old. She went the entire year and never once spoke a word to the teacher or the assistant teacher. Part of the requirement was for me to go and be an active helper and I loved going in and playing with the kids. It really was just a play time that had a story time and lunch and got them used to the idea of being with other kids and being at school with a schedule. She did play with the other kids and did great, she just wouldn't look or speak to the teachers.

She went to Kindergarten the next year at 4.75 years old and had the same problems, she was smart at home and was learning, but would not deal with the adult "strangers" at school. This was a huge issue with her learning. So, she struggled. I'll never forget the day about half way through her kindergarten year that a very happy teacher shared that my daughter had come up to her desk and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention and then spoke to her. She then continued to speak to her the rest of the year. She was still very shy with anyone else. But her teacher and I were so excited that she finally spoke to a teacher it was a breakthrough.

Our move to Texas and being in a brand new place, at a brand new school was a large push to get over it. I say only most because we did try to go door to door to sell for her school fundraiser this year and only made it to one house across the street and she was done.