The girl of the horizontal inclinations

I've lost count of the number of times that Deepa has asked if Maya is ill. 95% of the times she has asked this, Maya has been absolutely fine, but the reason for her concern is that she's obviously not used to seeing a child who spends quite as much time horizontal. When Maya feels tired or overwhelmed or excited or contemplative or even just completely normal but just wants some time out, what she does is lie on her tummy with her head on one side and her hands tucked under her. She doesn't do this to go to sleep, but sometimes if she stays in this relaxed position for long enough, she drops off (as shown in this photo taken yesterday - she then proceeded to sleep for an hour and a half on the chair!).

Maya has been adopting this 'comfort' position for as long as I can remember and she doesn't just do it at home, she does it in libraries, at nursery, in cafe's, restaurants and parks. In other words, pretty much anywhere. I have no doubt if I allowed her to she'd stretch out across the length of a rickshaw.

The reason I bring this up is because entering this solitary comfort zone is so very Maya. I think she feels safe and secure in this position and will simply not come out of it until she is good and ready to engage vertically with the world once again. I do wonder how long her horizontal inclinations will persist - I have an obscure image in my head of a teenage girl getting bored in a lesson at school and stretching out on her front under the desks to zone out. Or several years on at work, finding an issue that has come up just too much and reclining in front of the coffee machine to take stock.

Perhaps not though - perhaps she will leave this habit behind her at the same time as stepping out of her toddlerhood skin. But I really don't mind either way - whilst she is horizontal, she is calm. And a calm toddler is a thing of joy forever!