You become conditioned to respond to your child's needs the second they are born.
Baby cries, feed.
Baby cries, clothe.
Baby cries, hold.
When baby's language is delayed, her/his cries function as words.
The difference between cries and words from a communication perspective is that one triggers a much more primal response.
As mama, I feel primal responses on the regular, almost as frequently as I did while breastfeeding Dublin.
Dublin's communication default is often tears.
He is four-years-old and I still want to feed, clothe, hold him to quell what both he and I are feeling when fountains fall from his eyes.
Today, as I reflect on a plane to Washington D.C. for work, I realize that leaving Dublin, leaving autism churns my gut, rattles my primal yearnings, makes me want to swaddle him in my arms all over again.
