After reading Dude, HK, and Mana's kind replies, I feel like I need to reevaluate my earlier assumptions about introversion. I'm going to spend some time carefully observing DS this week to ensure I'm not conflating perfectionism/sensitivity with introversion.
The vast majority of DS' time is spent one-on-one with me. With me (and DH), he craves constant interaction. If left to his own devices, he'll seek out conversation, collaboration, and intensive socialization. He will ask to be read to for hours on end, will invite me into an imaginary scenario he's concocted, or will volunteer to help me performing a household task. Whether this represents genuine extraversion or a need for considerable stimulation is up in the air, as far as I'm concerned. We literally talk about new material all.the.time. He even talks about this stuff in his sleep! (Last night, he said in his sleep, "Belugas are mammals and they drink their Mummies' milk.")
When around other young children (or my in-laws...LOL!) he alternately plays Goodall or recoils from their company in horror.
When around new adults, he will either hang back with me or voluntarily shake their hand and introduce himself. In almost all cases, adults talk down to him, so he loses interest in their company. Ditto on initiating contact with older children (5+), but we tend to have more success with this group because they lack the self-awareness to tailor their speech to his age, so he hears 5 y/o+ messaging from them.
This stream of consciousness has made me realize that he may be developing a touch of reticence around young children and condescending adults, bordering on misanthropy, regardless of his degree of introversion or his sheer fear of the unpredictability of his age-peers. Hmm. BTDT. It is hereby resolved that we will do minimal age-peer play for a few weeks to see how his public behaviour changes.
