Speak to me baby.

Layla is a huge chatterbox here at home. She doesn't shut up. Ever. Even when people come over to our house, it may take her a few minutes to warm up, but before long she'll start talking away. Except kids. We have friends who bring their kids over and she plays great with them, but after thinking about it tonight, I can't remember if I've ever seen her speak directly to another child.

At the same time, she is very shy. If we are out in public, or at someone else's house, she stays pretty quiet for most of the time, unless she is talking directly to Mike or I. Meh, I'm not too worried about that, shy isn't the end of the world.

But then I got to thinking. Is it really an issue of being shy? I get that she would be more comfortable in our home, hence the talking with people while she's here. She is also VERY loud while we're out shopping. The child sings at the top of her lungs the entire shopping trip. That's not really something that a shy kid would do, is it?

Here's the kicker. I have NEVER heard her speak directly to anyone except for me at daycare. There have been a handful of times that she has thrown a fit at pick up/drop off where she has been very vocal, but again, vocal AT ME. I've never heard her speak to Elba or any of the other kids. Now Elba I understand. Elba only speaks Spanish, and while I know that Layla understands her, perhaps she doesn't trust her own Spanish enough to speak. But the other kids speak English, so here in lies my concern. My kid doesn't talk. A know that all kids have quirks, but this is kinda a biggie and one I don't really get.

I used to joke that when people would meet Layla, particularly ones who had read or heard stories about her, they would call me a liar because she is completely different than how she is with us and very close friends/family. Now after looking at the big picture and hearing from Elba today that my inkling that she didn't talk while there was confirmed, I'm not laughing.

I guess we'll just ride it out a bit. When we talk about it, she says that she doesn't talk at Elba's, but she does whisper. But of course she isn't willing or able to tell us why. I simply hate how stressful and anxiety filled parenting is. At what point do we call this mission a failure and reset the game? Damn I wish this was a video game.