IMO, your child is who he is, and that's okay.
This can be a hard pill to swallow for some people when the child isn't who they want him to be and can create problems for the kid (see The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom for examples). When people put pressure on someone to be different than s/he is, there can be hurtful consequences.
Kids (especially little ones) can't see grownups as being flawed, and so pushing the kid in an unhealthy way to READ! or THROW! or PLAY! can be damaging. The child can internalize things as being his fault, when it's really the grownup who's out of line. Pushing a child can be positive when you think that the child can do something but is afraid to try for a variety of reasons. We went through this with one of our kids over the summer, and it did him a lot of good/built his confidence. On the other hand, pushing to satisfy something going on in the adult's own mind can be unhealthy and can make a child feel inadequate.
So I guess you have to decide if your relatives are trying to gently push your son just for his edification or if they're doing this for their internal reasons. I'd talk to them. Share your concerns in a non-judgmental way and see what they say. Example: I see that you've been focusing on X with DS and was wondering why."
