Lakshmi's Reading and a Child's Trust

Lakshmi has been reading for about a week and a half. Both Lakshmi and Priya have been ready all summer to actually read,
but each child has their own learning clock. I wasn't surprised that Lakshmi started reading after Priya, but it isn't a big deal.
The teacher thinks she is doing great. If my girls didn't read until age 8, I wouldn't be concerned.

It is amazing to see someone who I have nurtured since she was a tiny baby, grow and mature in front of my eyes.
Lakshmi can still cuddle like she used to, and in fact insist on it every night. Sometimes her head at my tummy,
or her feet. She is always very gentle when she cuddles, and looks at me with such trust.

Priya is amazing too. She didn't have the benefit of sleeping in my arms or cuddling up in my mama cocoon (between my chin and tummy) like Lakshmi did. Lakshmi slept with me every night, nursing through the night, always one hand or foot on me somewhere, always connected. Priya slept in a metal orphanage cradle, then crib from the time she was 2 days old, until she was 14 months old. Every child was in the crib at 9pm, with their bottles, and the lights were put out. How lonely that must have been to sleep like that every day. Yet, that was all she knew. When she came to live with us, the crib was her security.
She had never built trust with an adult. She was terrified of sleeping with me. If I made her do it, she would shiver and whimper. I couldn't take that, and let her go back to her crib, but it haunted me until she began making a connection with me.
If someone hits and neglects you all day, why would you want to be out of the crib. Even though she was home and safe with me, she didn't know how to trust.

After a year, she started to climb in my bed, but then would want back in her crib. Since her crib was next to my bed, she could come and go. In the summer, she finally released her crib. We had a ceremony, and said goodbye to the crib, and she handed me the tools as I took it apart to move it into another room. She slept on a toddler bed for a long time. Then she transitioned into a twin sized bed. Now adays, she snuggles with me. I try to find special times where we cuddle and talk on my bed. Sometimes she even sleeps through the entire night, and now she wants me during thunder storms.

She still needs some help with trust issues, but much of a child's happiness has to do with the trust she instills in her mother.

Jyotsna