It's Love Thursday again. My typical process of choosing the picture for Love Thursday is seeing which one jumps or pops out at me. This week I picked a picture that relates to some anxious attachment issues we have been facing. I can’t believe I’m posting a picture of myself with no makeup on… but its not like the photo a full close up or anything. So the recent Easter festivities have left me with a clingy and moody toddler daughter. She gets easily over stimulated with all the running around and excitement surrounding holidays. You would think that things would get easier now that we have been home a year. But family gatherings still rattle her. Having many tall people, practical strangers showering her with attention, affection and attempting to meet her needs confuses her.

Her routine is thrown off. She is eating new foods, is in new surroundings, around family she has only seem a few times. It naturally makes sense that these supposed to be fun holidays can bring about stress in our daughter. Sure I suppose it could just be a toddler thing in general but her uneasiness for days following tell me that its more than just an over stimulated toddler. The days following Holidays tend to be filled with anxiety. So how do I get my girl back on track? How do I help her? I regress if she needs it. If my typical independent girl is crying “ up” and being clingy, we head to the rocking chair and yes I even break out the bottle. I cuddle her in a blanket and we rock.

We hunker down if we need to. We limit outings, keep her world small and add plenty of structure. I don’t mind regressing. I don’t worry about the occasional bottle. I love our Rocking Chair moments. Happy Love Thursday.


Image- Lauri & Livi rocking 4/11/07