I'm embarrassed by my child

Long rant but short version is my two year old won't talk and I hate how other people view him differently and question my parenting because of it.Throwaway because I hate admitting it. He's almost 2 and he's such a quirky little person already. He tries to shake hands when he meets other kids at the park, he pets my head whenever I pick him up in the morning, his favorite stuffed animal is a giraffe and if he thinks someone is upset (including our dogs) he has to find his giraffe and give it to them. He's rambunctious and full of energy, but if he gets overly excited he has to take tiny shuffling steps as quickly as possible across the room. I think he's such a little character.He turns 2 in a month and he has a handful of words, if that. He says dada in context but everything else is memorized phrases. He doesn't call me mom or any variation, though I stay home with him. I worry that why he isn't talking, and make sure he gets socialization at plays groups, the park, etc. it least once a day. It doesnt seem to help. At first I didn't worry because he's incredibly expressive with his gestures, facial expressions, and understands what I'm saying and two-three part commands. But the first thing other people comment on is him not talking, the first thing long distance relatives ask is if he's talking yet, the first thing people with children his age say is how their kid was so chatty by now. They speak to him as if he's intellectually delayed. At the park they talk to him slowly and loudly like he's deaf, even after they see him respond to my normally spoken questions. (Ex: "do you want to go to the other slide" he runs to the other slide). They ask is I read to him and talk to him at home, which makes me feel like such a poor excuse as a parent.It's to the point where I worry about him picking up on how he's treated differently, about how his little mind interprets his family asking what's wrong with him when he's right there.I was a late talker too. He's not unintelligent, I've read all the tips online. I narrate our days, we read together, sing songs, barely any tv, speech therapy is booked. He's just a late talker according to our family doc. But I'm growing to hate taking him out because of the lack of acceptance. I want to let him develop at his own pace but I hate dealing with this and I wish I knew what I could do to help him. I just wish he would talk. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2Zi11Gh