Whooooooo-boy.
I can definitely relate. My DD(now13) was very much like this.
She talked-talked-talked-talked CONSTANTLY if she wasn't fixated on doing something else.
And just for comparison, she
took scissors to the cat in an effort to make a working Polyjuice Potion when she was four.
Similarly, it was very difficult to remember that she was only {chronological age} because she reasoned and talked SO. MUCH. LIKE. AN. ADULT.
(Still fighting that battle, by the way)
My suggestions to you, from one introvert to another?
* establish boundaries and QUIET TIME daily. If you're going to survive and nurture your child, you
must make your own sensory/emotional needs a priority.
* we went with "not-nap" time, during which DD was allowed to sit in her bed with a stuffed animal, books, etc. She listened to music or a book on tape. But "the rule" was that she stayed in that bed. Sometimes she napped, and sometimes not. This may not work for a child who is not a rule-follower. Mine was. Frankly, SHE needed the down time, too.
* NO-- not everyone else has a child like this. Not even close. Holy cow, my friends seriously could not believe the things that my DD did when she was two and three. She was angelic-- except when one of us crossed her, and then... Even my husband could hardly believe some of it.
* If you have another parent in the home? Make time immediately upon that person's return so that you can decompress somewhere quiet. I found that exercise with music on was an excellent way to de-stress.
* Don't let your child talk to you while you're doing something that requires your (true) full attention. Find a way to defer chatter that your child will agree to abide by-- you're going to need it. You need to enforce this now-- because if you don't, you'll rip the side mirror off of your brand-new minivan while you're backing out of a parking garage and trying to avoid the children who may/may not be chasing a ball that they are bouncing behind your vehicle. Hypothetically, I mean.
* He may not be an extrovert so much as if he's not yet reading for himself, he's using YOU as his source of information about all the things he's interested in. That's fine-- but it
is exhausting beyond words. I can't tell you what a relief it was when my 4yo finally learned to read on her own. Suddenly I could at least some of the time have the kind of peace that I had been desperate for!!
