How. HOW.

You guys. YOU GUYS. Mila is an extrovert.

I don't understand how this happened. I am the second most introverted person on this earth, and the other half of her genetic makeup is the first. Now, I will admit I can fake it like a pro, but STILL AN INTROVERT.

If you've met me and you're questioning this, THAT IS HOW GOOD I AM AT FAKING IT. It's scary sometimes how I manage to pull through for a small window of time. Trust me when I say EVERYONE pays the price later. When I travel for work and have to spend my day making small talk with strangers, the price is that I spend the evening acting like a fierce monster. Don't talk to me. Don't make eye contact with me.  I SAID DON'T LOOK AT ME.

I have told my children, "It's after 9:00. Stop talking to me." That's the nicest way I have to say it once I've run out of Fake It fuel.

Alexis, by the way, is also an introvert. She's one of those weird introverts who enjoys cheer and dancing on a stage and all of that stuff, but she definitely doesn't get her energy from being in groups. She's much more of a "sit quietly and read a book when she wants to reenergize" kind of person. She defeated the shy bug that she was born with, but that doesn't mean she wants to spend her days walking up to strangers and talking to them.

MILA DOES. We've been to a playground a bunch of days in a row and each and every time, she has made a friend or ten. She just walks up to people, introduces herself, and then insists that they be her friend. She doesn't care how old they are or if they look busy, she is amassing a crew. On the days when she manages to get several kids to run around with her, she's the happiest.

Tonight she had a crew of 6. SIX. Three of them were definitely at least two years older than her. They were abiding by her every order and happily joining her in little giggling fits all over the place.

I don't know what to do with an extrovert. I'm scared.

Comments

[Caroline]

I can barely walk up to people I do know and just start talking, much less random strangers.

Starting a new job at TWO schools, a new hockey team, a new grad school program all in the same 1-2 months has been a challenge of Ironman proportions.

[Mary]

Maybe its a recessive gene?