Hello everyone,
I'm new to the SN board so please be gentle with me! And I apologise for the long post...
I'm a bit worried about my DS (aged 3 yrs 9 months). I can't really put my finger on anything concrete but I'm just uncomfortable. I've posted in Behaviour/Development and some lovely posters said I should come here 
DS was a really smiley, outgoing, sociable baby up to about 1 year old. But since then he's become a lot more introverted and shy, and it's beginning to interefere with life a little bit. For example:
- he's not good in social situations with more than one other child. He plays pretty well on a 1:1 basis, but any more children and he withdraws and goes off on his own. We know a lot of children and their parents through the NCT antenatal classes I did, and we usually try to all meet up once a week, but increasingly I feel uncomfortable going because DS will be making a fuss about even sitting with the others to have lunch.
- he gets very distressed by strangers coming to our house (or even people he's just not seen in a while). Last night the Avon lady knocked on the back door while he was in the kitchen having a snack, and he ended up cowering on the floor.
- we used to go to Tiny Talk (baby signing and singing) with the other mums and children we met through NCT, and he never ever joined in with the songs or activities. He would just sit on my knee and watch.
- DS goes to nursery three days a week (has done since he was 7 months old) and the staff there say he's much more likely to do his own thing than join in with the structured play. He's fine with story time or free play though.
He's also very late to toilet train (we're still not there), and he has always been very difficult to get dressed, get bathed, get nappy changed etc. We have had some fairly major problems with discipline in that often he just doesn't do as he's told; I know that's not uncommon with preschoolers but some days it extends to damn near anything I ask him (e.g. pick up the spoon you dropped... pick it up please... DS, can you hear me? I asked you to pick up the spoon please.... )
His speech is excellent (though he didn't really start talking properly until he was 18 months old). I think he's pretty bright too (though of course all parents think that!) - he knows all his letters and can write them all, and is beginning to recognise some simple words and do some very basic sums.
He can also be a bit obsessive about odd things e.g. he loves all things to do with toadstools (this one going on since this time last year - see my thread here in Behaviour/development). He will also draw the same thing over and over again, with little variation. He doesn't do much in the way of "let's pretend", dressing up or that sort of imaginative play.
Now both I and DH are introverts, and I know I've had to work very hard to overcome it where it's necessary to do so (trying to make new friends etc). So it's likely that DS will have inherited that tendency, I guess.
I'm just concerned that he'll end up the odd kid with no mates when he gets to school, like I did 
And there's a niggle in my mind that all of this may not be quite...typical?
Would really like to hear your views!