I often wondered, ever since Sara was only a few months of experience among us, how to approach the emotions that would arise on her way. At almost 1 year and several months, the control maneuvers, for her body, had become more complicated. At the same time they opened different ways of exploration, but also frustration. You see, we the adults have forgotten what it means to drive your body through the universe without knowing how to do it. This although at 18, we had to relearn it, because we wanted to drive a car. So each new skill fills the central amygdala in the limbic system, where we have no reason, but emotion.

Otilia (Mantelers) taught me the map of the “emotional brain”, so, armed with information, I prepared every day the moment of the conversation about feelings.

Sara, in her quest for mobility, often found herself ahead of her own body. Her physique was trying to keep up with her desires through laborious and difficult orders applied to various muscles that gave her mobility. So, often enough the exercise resulted in falls, with clips, loss of balance, meaning filling the amygdala with rough emotions.

To be useful in the learning process, both I and Gabriela used to theatrically lose one’s foothold, and land noisily in Sarah’s laughter. But because we are talking about learning, I asked her what happened every time. And so Sara, in her few words, but large movements, replayed the event. We took over the demonstration and requested confirmation for the exercise. In this way we contributed to the acceptance of what had just occurred, and to the learning process. Slowly, very slowly we were opening the way for “how Sara feels”.

Once the exercises gained further complexity, it was followed by another stage where I began to tell Sara that she is not that emotion. That although at that time it seemed that it has control over her, she could detach from it, so as to regain her emotional balance and finally to make the Joy reappear.

Obviously we are still at the beginning, and things tend to become more complex, but in this way that we won small steps on the map of emotions that now, at 2 and a half, are expressed by “at Sara came the joy” sign that the pressure diluted in the presence of happiness. I, as a father, I can translate the emotion and the information that keeps me away from inducing the emotion.I also thank Otilia for her life lessons useful to the child within me and also to Sara.