Unique and Special.

Look at this beautiful tree!

Start As You Mean To Go On. . . UPDATE

I am pleased to report that before I left work on Wednesday I talked with Roger and Sara about my concerns. Sara stated simply that they are only human and there's only so much they can do which of course made me feel totally guilty. They are great parents and really doing an amazing job every. single. day. And I'm proud of them.

I also know that my standards are very, very high and meeting them isn't something I expect of most people. It's not because I want others to disappoint me that my standards are so high but if I can do it, why can't everyone, is kind of my thinking. But I doubt most people find the same things I find as important as I find them. I'm sure there are loads of reasons for this, my childhood probably one of the biggest.

I digress, this post was meant to update and focus on how thrilled and proud I felt to see Sara start dinner for everyone while Roger entertained both Tomatoes on Wednesday as I got ready to leave. Even if they can't do it every night, making the effort and realizing it is a big deal, is a great and wonderful step.

Side notes:
Roger's perspective focused on how many opportunities they'll have for family dinners, why rush. I had to be honest and tell him that before he realizes it they will be four years old and he'll not know where the time went. He wasn't bothered by this in any way. So I asked how long he thought they'd sit and listen to him and want to be at family dinners. He was sure they'd last until the tomatoes were at least sixty. Yes, I typed that correctly, 60 not 16. Funny following his conversation with me this morning about what one would do with their life if one found out they only had a month to live.

Sara's view centered on how they'd (she and Roger) had grown up having family dinners so she wasn't worried about never getting to them, of course they'd make them happen at some point. Of course as she said this Roger asked her what she was talking about. He'd never had family dinners growing up. And she went on to explain that her family dinners consisted of her mom calling her dad to dinner and him arriving about an hour later after they'd all finished.

It's my own little thing but I'm so happy believing that they all sat down to dinner Wednesday night together. [ And while it wasn't exciting or anything life altering, they did sit down together and enjoyed it as much as they could. The best part is now that they've done it once they know they can do it. ]

Start As You Mean To Go On.

Said Family Dinner did not occur last night. Roger and sara did push bedtime to 7:45 pm. Crazy. Both babies, extremely overtired from lack of afternoon nap and late bedtime, woke at an earlier than usual 6:45 am. Of course there's only so much a little tomato can take and Jackson compensated with a longer than usual two hour nap this morning. Because he can't let me think he actually enjoys sleeping he's upstairs boycotting his afternoon nap as I type. Tabitha, exhausted because her morning nap ended an hour before Jackson's did, is sound asleep after a short period of crib play.

Roger and sara have starting brushing their teeth. Conveniently this coincides with Jackson's third tooth popping through up top (third total, first on top). We've begun the great journey to bottle weaning. So far we've been pretty unsuccessful. Neither tomato finds the sippy spout as pleasing as the nipple. Wait a bit longer you say. I hear you, but, getting used to the sippy spout isn't our only issue, just offering them the nipple doesn't make feeding any easier. We are transitioning folks and it's not pretty.

Actually I'm pretty hung up on this family dinner thing. They skipped it last night because the tomatoes were hungry. And what does that mean? It is Roger and Sara saying that preparing their food and the tomatoes food and sitting down together was too hard so they didn't even try. Forget all of Roger's tirades about doing what's best for the babies even when it's inconvenient for them, it isn't true. What they did last night was about them. It made things easier for them so they skipped it. but here's the deal - IT WILL ONLY GET HARDER. Not only will this set up expectations for Jackson and Tabitha, it will set up habits for Roger and Sara, breaking those habits and changing those expectations will be infinitely harder than creating the situation and expectations you are going for from the beginning. Start as you mean to go on.

210th post!

Tomatoes are doing well.

Jackson is having sleep issues that we are working on. He's waking in the night, not every night but 4 out of 7. He doesn't cry, just plays then goes back to sleep. The problem is, it's breaking his deep sleep and shortening his sleep cycles. This is shortening the amount of time his growth hormone releases or cutting it off almost entirely. Very bad news for our little Jacky. Luckily Sara is the one leading the crusade for better nighttime sleep. I'm very, very happy about this as many days I feel like the Sleep-Obsessor. She's been reading the Ferber book and thinks that he is in bed too long at night. I'm not sure that I agree with this theory but respect the work Ferber has done, one of my previous employers actually worked with Ferber for a few years in his sleep clinic, many of my previous parents have used his book as a guide to establishing consistent and healthy sleep habits, and I am willing to endorse Sara's suggestion based on Ferber's work for the greater good.

Our world it is a-changin'.

Starting this week bedtime will begin to move later. Ten continuous hours of sleep are better than twelve broken ones or two chunk of 5-6 hours. We will slowly move both tomatoes to an eight o'clock bedtime, from their current bedtime of 6:45-7:15 pm. In addition Sara and Roger will move the bedtime bottle earlier, something we've been talking about for awhile and they've been occasionally working on, giving Jackson his bottle before bath opposed to after. To make this entire transition easier and better for everyone we will begin FAMILY DINNERS.

Family dinners are an important part of childhood and family development. Taking time each day to sit together and socialize has an infinite amount of benefits, most of which are beyond what I can cover here. Sara, Roger and I have been talking about the benefits of family dinners since my interview before the babies left the NICU. Because they return from work later in the evening the exact date we began family dinners has been up in the air. With the institution of a later bedtime there is no reason not to begin immediately.

So, I'm giving up my desire to have a nice twelve hours in bed every night for the betterment of their family bonding, growth and better quality sleep, we hope. I don't do this lightly but Sara and I talked together and we both see the other's perspective and best needs of the tomatoes being at the forefront.

I have much more to tell, maybe later today or tomorrow.
Happy Tuesday bloggers and readers.

Snowy Springtime?

It is amazing how fast things can snowball in a babies' world. Yesterday we enjoyed the beautiful Spring weather for nearly two hours, went down for a slightly later nap and ended up with only 45 minutes each. I waited a bit to go in, as I always do, and when things had quieted down I took my opportunity. Unfortunately Tabitha may have been about to go back to sleep, but I didn't know this before going in. Had she snoozed some more Jackson may have followed her lead and gotten a bit too.

They were tired, obviously, having only slept 45 the entire afternoon. We kept it low-key and I informed Sara of the details stressing that they'd probably be ready for bed sooner rather than later. Generally Roger and Sara have about an hour window during which the time they put the tomatoes down varies. I was suggesting that after so much fresh air and so little afternoon napping they'd enjoy the earlier time.

Of course what do I know.

Roger and sara kept them up later than usual and surprisingly enough they woke up earlier than usual, crying. Jackson and Tabitha never wake in the morning crying, not since they were a couple months old. They had very little sleep on Sunday and have gradually been inching closer to normal as the week has gone on. Maybe catching up a bit, but still behind on what keeps them at their best.

You see where this is going?
They are clingy and exhausted today. Jackson doesn't want to eat. Tabitha only wants to be held. It isn't pretty or fun to listen to. Thankfully during the day I set the schedule and they took a nice morning nap. Not too long ago I put them down early for their afternoon nap and they fell asleep right away.

I'm hoping to stop this snowball before it becomes Frosty.

One day at a time . . .

Getting back on the blog-wagon seems a daunting task. But I'm telling myself if I just try one day at a time, I'll be there before I know it. So here I am again. Sharing the news of Tomatoes, New England, and the ponderings of this nanny.

(and apparently a lot of photo links!)

Tomatoes are doing well. Aside from Spring rain keeping us indoors, we're busy exploring our world - inside and out.

Jackson has figured out, by observing Tabitha, that crawling over to me and tapping on my slipper gets him picked up and kissed. He's very proud of himself for figuring this out and addicted to the kisses. Although, to be 100% honest, I'd say he'd enjoy being tickled and maneuvered about as much as he enjoys being cuddled. And I do interchange the two.

Tabitha has increased her practice time to include trying to stand in her crib. She's yet to figure it out but works at it for a good twenty minutes every time she's put into bed. Often she tries longer but she always gets tired and eventually goes to sleep.

Both Tomatoes are greatly enjoying the freedom that only comes after RSV season. They are extremely social babies and love interacting with strangers. I love talking with other adults, it is so much better than playing stroller goalie and making sure everyone keeps a five foot distance. And seeing the tomatoes respond to children is the best. Recently a preschooler made fast friends with both babies and they couldn't get enough. The chattering and touching and interplay between the three of them was beautiful. Little Mr. Jackson Smiles couldn't get enough. And Missy Tabitha Observer with her watchful eyes took every little bit in.

Sunhats are here and being broken in. Sunscreen is next and I'm looking forward to the increased freedom it brings. The park is great but I'm hoping to find more playgrounds near by. We need one of those playscapes for tiny kids surrounded by the soft turf to really encourage their crawling and climbing. Haven't found one yet, but there's bound to be one somewhere, right? I mean, nearly one year olds and woodchips just don't mix. The crawling and sticking. The mouthing everything and rolling. Those little hands and splinters. These combinations just don't work. Even sand would be preferable, although Roger wouldn't agree. He's very concerned about the idea of his little tomatoes eating sand. Says he never did it and they won't either. Have I ever mentioned that Roger was an only child?

Growth and Opportunity

Hello out there! I've been consumed by another project, alright, there are a few, and neglecting this blog. But I'm here to give you an update and hopefully jump back on the blog-wagon.

The Tomatoes are doing great!
Tabitha crawls everywhere and has recently become obsessed with climbing people. She'll climb other objects but prefers people. She's been enjoying a good crawl over, grab hold, then she lifts onto her knees. Over the last week we've regarded this as her favorite position. But Tabitha, she is a-changin'. Knees aren't enough, now our eleven month old missy wants to be all the way up on her feet. And this girl is tall! She's still in the 50th percentile for height and weight for her actual age - we're only correcting for developmental assessment purposes - otherwise missy Tabitha is jamming along! How one tiny little-grape tomato born an entire trimester early can just catch up in a matter of months is beside me, but she sees to be doing it. And make no mistake, she's HUGE!! Depending on the article, manufacturer, and cut of clothing she can wear a size 18 months or a 3T, oh yes, I said a 3T!!

Jackson is still quite a bit smaller. Being a boy he is just barely on the chart, just. barely. But he's definitely growing and looks AMAZING. He still has trouble with ref1ux and with all of the food he eats has some terribly stinky spit ups. But he does eat, loves the solids and the ref1ux doesn't seem to hinder his sleep. His crawling is less traditional, it's more of a seal crawl then a hands and knees crawl. It seems to take quite a bit of work, effort + energy, and he was only using it when he really wanted something for about two weeks. As he's perfected his skills and increased stamina and determination, he's gotten faster. Now he does a seal crawl on hyper speed which looks a lot like this in action. It's unbelievably cute, especially next to his perfectly determined to do it perfectly crawling sister. I've actually taken a video of them racing and hope to get it on our sister site this week or next. They really are too cute.

Now both Tomatoes (and of course when I say Tomatoes I mean it in the most beautiful and endearing way, much like this) can get down from a seated position and each has put themselves into a seated position, Jackson by chance and Tabitha purposefully just this week.

They are babbling like crazy, mama, dadad, bababa, variations of my name - especially Jackson, Tabitha prefers to crawl over and pull on my pant-leg, and doing it all the time. There are loads of High5's in the house, clapping and saying "Yay!" are equally prevalent.

Our PT continues to come every week. Soon we may begin climbing stairs.

Roger and Sara seem to be doing well. Although as more developmental growth occurs more discipline related issues arise and I can see more concerns regarding the future. Norah has come across some research regarding preemies-parent interactions based on believed vulnerability. And while both Roger and Sara are doing great jobs I'm trying to find a polite way to suggest they go into therapy. Having a traumatic birth story and NICU stay is a lot harder than most parents are willing to admit. Research has found it may cause PTSD in one or both parents.

Parenting is tough work. Taking care of yourself, your children, your spouse, your career, finances, life in general is a lot of work. Taking regular time to stop and have another person only think about you - that would be great for every parent (nearly every person if you ask me), imagine how stress-relieving it could be for a parent who has even more on their plate. Going the therapy doesn't imply that one is broken and needs fixing, it just allows one an opportunity. The opportunity itself is variable and differs from person to person. But if one has adequate healthcare and can make and hour every other month, month, week, why not give oneself that opportunity?

Tomorrow is Equal Pay Day

As I consider wearing red tomorrow, I am surprised at the direction my thoughts take. I may be in one of the few careers where a woman generally makes more money and finds greater job availability than a man. 

Spring thoughts . . .

With Spring quickly approaching I gave Sara and Roger a new suggestion, sun hats. While I rarely suggest specific products, I think most things are similar to their competitors and pretty much interchangeable based on style and personal preference, I have two products that I love. I've been using each since my first nanny position nearly ten years ago (May marks ten years).

I didn't mention the first here because I didn't think product pushing was beneficial. but as the sun gets closer and hotter I see the necessity to share my other favorite product and thought I may as well share both.

These bibs rock. They are machine washable, rinsable, dry quickly and last for years. Literally you could probably hand these babies down (nobody I've worked for has been willing to give them up, thus I've never seen them handed down).

And I love these hats. They are stylish, have ties that keep them on, a wide brim that shades the face as well as the neck and they dry quickly. These can definitely be handed down and last for years. We've taken them in the pool, the ocean, the stroller and just out for a walk.

Now, you may see other brands that resemble Bumkins and Flap Happy but aren't these specific brands - my advice? Run! Run far away! Jump on the internet and order these specific brands. They may be a little more expensive but trust me, no parent I've ever worked for has regretted it.

Sunny with a chance of extreme tantrums.

Not much to tell today. Babies are throwing a lot of temper-tantrums and because grandma is here they are getting quite a bit of positive feedback for it. Of course it's exhausting for me and makes each day so long. Roger and Sarah are encouraging them as well, I don't think it's on purpose but it's happening so much. Luckily grandma leaves in two days, then we'll have a few weeks break before the next grandma arrives. It's going to be a long couple of months! After that there's another grandma coming.

In the meantime . . .

Development Update

Hey! Long time no see!

I was away over the weekend and have spent most of the week recuperating. Travel was exhausting but my actual reunion was amazing. I had an awesome time and life is good. I took loads of pictures hoping that in some way they could hold me until the next reunion. Of course they won't but they did take me through most of this week. I looked at the last batch this morning. Yep, two thousand photos took me five days to get through. If only there could be more . . .

But I'm sure you are much more interested in hearing about the tomatoes. Good thing because I actually logged on to talk about them. They are both doing really well. Tabitha now has two tiny bottom teeth to match Jackson's. Neither are really noticeable to the camera lens thus we have no photos of them yet. But don't you worry, once it's possible there will be loads of documentary photos.

Both are excellent sitters. Tabitha can get down from a sit onto her tummy without trouble although in the last two days she's started bumping her head on the way down. Not sure if it's the audience, her moving faster, weight change, growth, or something else completely but it's happened quite a few times. It doesn't seem to be her vision because she's just about CRAWLING!!! Hands and knees, moving one at a time and going forward in a straight line towards a goal. This morning her goal was me. I said to her, if you come over here I'll pick you up. It took her a good ten minutes but she brought herself right over, no distractions, and the party began! I am so proud of her! She'll learn my weakness early, if you come over to me, I'll pick you up. Of course, there's no guarantee how long I'll hold you, but the immediate response and reward will be there.

Jackson is doing an amazing job in the social realm. He too wants to crawl but focuses so much energy on interactions that he's easily distracted from his goal. He does get onto hands and knees but when he lifts one up it generally takes him backwards, pretty frustrating for him and any on lookers.

Napping is improving. We seem to be going in waves. Two great days on, one or one and a half mediocre or bad days, then another one or two good days. This week is a bit off as their grandmother, paternal, is visiting. She has only visited one other time since their birth over ten months ago. They were still in the NICU last time so getting to spend this much time with them is just what she hoped.

Finally the screaming. While we seemed to be making progress everything fell apart when I took Friday off. Roger decided he felt bad telling Tabitha not to scream and they called the pediatrician with tales of whoa. Told him she'd been screaming and we'd started telling her to stop. Said that it had been days since she'd made any sound at all. He responded that any sound is better than no sound and that we should stop telling her not to scream. We should go back to ignoring her or distracting her.

Okay, I was here everyday until Friday. There wasn't one part of any day that she remained silent. She's stopped screaming and begun making other sounds, bababa, dadada, etc. They called the pediatrician on Friday morning. Since I left here an hour before she went to bed on Thursday, there was no length of time for her to have been silent. Seriously.

You can't imagine how frustrating this is. Honestly. Completely and totally frustrating.

Now, the rest of this story . . .

Of course Norah asked her boss, who works with developmentally delayed kids, speech delayed kids, mr kids, autistic kids, you name it, they diagnose and evaluate kids, about all of this. And her boss was appalled. She said that the ONLY time you'd say that any sound is better than no sound is if the kid is mentally retarded. Neither Tabitha nor Jackson are anywhere near MR, so the pediatrician's suggestion is complete bs. Norah's boss went on to say that if Tabitha can understand that we don't want her to scream and she stops when we tell her that's a great sign and continuing to tell her no screaming is fine.

So, I took as much screaming as I could and then when I couldn't take anymore, I started telling her no screaming again. And you know what happened? The girl who had been silent, except for screaming, since I returned on Monday, started making sounds again - old sounds and new sounds. Using different parts of her mouth, different tones and pitch. But when her parents are around, know what she does? Yep, she screams. And now, because they can't ignore her, she gets rewarded for screaming. Every scream gets attention.

Roger and Sara spoke with EI about speech evaluation, after they'd taken her in for a hearing test, which she passed, because she's completely normal, and EI said what I said. If the screaming is working there's no reason for her to use any other sounds.

Things are looking up.

These last couple of weeks have been pretty exhausting. I was sick, again, both babies had their first colds, Jackson cut his first tooth, they've perfected sitting and we've had PT once each week. Add turning ten months,  our last RSV shots, gaining one pound each and the screaming phase and you've got our entire month of March.

Luckily we are getting more spring-like weather, higher temperatures and moving the screaming out of the house. Because Roger and Sara are who they are, we tried about ten things before they were ready to start telling the tomatoes "no" every time they screamed. Once we all started doing that, the progress was measurable and immediate. Both understand the word no as well as the word yes.

Napping has also hit a few rough patches. Sara asked for a limited period and I tried that for about three weeks. It worked, I'm lying, I was trying to come up with something positive but there's nothing positive about it. It didn't work at all. They'd each sleep 45 minutes and then cry/complain/play/scream until the set amount of time had passed and I'd get them up, crabby, exhausted and we'd all be frustrated. Finally last week I couldn't take it anymore. There is no point getting an exhausted baby out of bed, if they are tired they need sleep, I can't sleep for them thus they get the opportunity to sleep. Tabitha responded immediately. She regularly sleeps 75 to 90 minutes every morning. Jackson improved, started sleeping 45 minutes, instead of the 30 he'd been sleeping, and then, after awhile, another twenty minutes. This week he's doing a set 45, a lot of complaining, then another 45-60. It isn't ideal but it isn't something I can do for him. 

Physical therapy has really been on hyper drive. Both tomatoes rolled from their backs to their front this week. Each can hold a sitting position and without planning has put themselves into a sit from an all fours position. 

Tabitha has started mini-fits at random times. She just bursts out with a cranky-cry-fuss and waits to see if anything happens. No tears or anything. 

As far as their fits go, each has their own unique cry pattern. Tabitha gets angry and yells as if she's been deeply wronged. Jackson kind of whines and cries as if he's been deeply wounded. This is funny because I had a set of twins who were exactly like this, girl like Tabitha and boy like Jackson. They even looked a bit like the tomatoes back then with their huge chubby cheeks.

Substitute nanny today!

Hello everyone, Norah here!  Today Samara is off on a small adventure (I'll let her fill you in if she wants), and I'm here with the babies!  I love them and they love me, we have so much fun together... and yet, today I'm realizing that they can tell that Samara is not here; and me without her is something unusual. When I went to get them up after nap time, Tabitha just kept looking at me with this adorable cute face of confusion! And Jackson, well now, he usually says Dada Dada Dada all day long... but this afternoon? none of that! It's all Sssss, Sssss, Sssss... which I think is because he's looking for Samara!  Smart kiddos!!!

Update, screaming, sitting and Spring!

Things here are plugging along. We've been meeting with the PT each week instead of once per month. Whether or not she believes it helps, we've all seen measurable change. 

1. Both tomatoes are now sitting on their own. 

2. Jackson put himself into a sit one evening last week. 

3. Tabitha can occasionally go from sitting to an all fours position. 

4. This morning Jackson rolled from his back to his stomach for the first time ever. 

On the downside we're still experiencing a lot of screaming. Happy, sad, angry, confused, all they do is scream. Makes it hard for their nanny to think let alone blog. Thus the reason for the long breaks between posts. I just can't think while they scream. Roger and Sara encourage it. we're going to have a talk about it. I can't take much more. Lately they choose to practice screaming rather than cooing or babbling. It's putting their language skills further behind and killing me. Screaming isn't something that just disappears and it can last for YEARS. 

There have been other positives in our world. Each tomato gained a pound in the last six weeks. They have finished their RSV shots and both are currently healthy. Our long, cold, snowy winter only brought one cold and they had it at the same time. There's not much more one can ask for. They are more than ten months old now, robust, healthy and full of personality. 

I'm really looking forward to their birthdays, warmer weather and getting outside more. I can't wait until they are crawling and then walking. I love holding toddlers hands as they plug along. Lucky enough I'm short and this requires no hunching which encourages me to do it on a regular basis, once they can mostly walk. I'm also looking forward to new toys and finger foods. Cheer!os have already entered the house although neither tomato knows what to do with them. Roger and Sara have a detailed list of toy suggestions and ideas, hopefully some of which will surface in the next couple of weeks.

This weekend I'm headed out of town and hoping to return to Spring. Keep your fingers crossed, yesterday there were at least three Duck Boats in the river so it has to be coming. And crocuses! I saw crocuses on my commute in today!

Our 1st tooth!

Last night Sara found the teeniest-tiniest littlest tooth in Jackson's mouth! Jackson just cut his first tooth!!

She's a sitter!

Tabitha is a sitter!!

She can sit!!

Tabitha has been sitting most of the day!

Three cheers for Tabitha,
Hip-Hip-Hooray!
Hip-Hip-Hooray!
Hip-Hip-Hooray!

Today is Tabitha's sitting day - yippee-hooray!!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

After an especially long and frustrating day of work I don't have much to share with you. Just a note to say, Happy St. Patty's Day!

Special Playtime.

Both tomatoes are doing fine. Their colds seem to be improving daily. They are sleeping well at least once per day then taking two shorter naps. Actually, that is an over-simplification.

Jackson can do three short naps, uggh, or one great nap and two short naps. They are evenly spaced and he seems to move through the day well / gets enough sleep overall. If we dropped that final nap he may increase the length of his other two naps, but he enjoys it so much, I don't want to deprive him.

Tabitha has actually been napping like a poster child for naps. She naps about 90 minutes in the morning, around 75-80 minutes in the afternoon then pushes through until bedtime. She wakes in great moods and has plenty of energy. Sadly she's been fussy despite this. Norah suggested that we have special Samara-Tabitha playtime to ease her frustrations and hopefully help decrease her negative behaviors, i.e. screaming, fits, intentional grumpiness, inability to play alone, etc. Our gol is to play together for five minutes everyday, completely Tabitha centered.

This sounds pretty simple and straight-forward, but it's tougher than you'd think. There are lots of rules in order to get it right. It's based on a proven study they've been doing, with preemies specifically, that are having problem behaviors at home. As a rule they use toddlers and problem behaviors are various, ranging from the extreme to the mild. Most don't do it with babies, but it can't hurt so we're going to try.

Now for the basic rules, of course I'll probably forget some as we've only practiced once so far. With Tabitha I need to be face to face. For us this means I put her on my lap and semi-support her sitting position (no, neither tomato sits alone yet). I put three to four toys on her lap and let her choose what she'd like to play with, then I just leave the others there. 

As she plays I am not allowed to:

offer toys

ask her questions

request anything of her

I am allowed to:

talk about what she's looking at

respond to her positive behaviors

i.e. reaching, holding or grasping a toy, keeping herself upright, retrieving a toy she has dropped (I ignore the dropping and NEVER retrieve it for her), etc

reflect her positive noises (ignore the negative)

i.e. cooing, babbling (no scolding for screaming)

We do this for five minutes. I don't tickle her or move her body for her, just support her and give to her. While it may not seem like it, we take a lot from babies. We want them to socialize and smile when we're in the mood. We want interactions and performance wen we have the time. This five minutes is all about giving to Tabitha, no taking. No questions. Do you see the light? Nope, uh-huh. You see the light. I like how you are holding yourself up. Ahhh. Baba. etc. You get the idea.

Now I know this sounds silly. But when we started Tabitha was mad at me. She'd play with her toys but not look me in the eyes. She was with-holding eye contact. Jackson started doing this months ago, but she's only started recently. By the end of our play session, we did ten minutes for the practice, she was making more eye contact, but still not as much as usual. When I first put her down to play, after we'd finished, she was annoyed. I ignored the negative behaviors but praised to the positive to aid the transition. After no more than three minutes she was fine and continued to play happily on her own. The remainder of the day brought increased eye contact, smiles and better interaction for she and I. 

Of course, as these things go, it will get worse before it gets better. I will work hard to do these five minutes each day and she will increase her negative behaviors once our five minutes are over. But, if I keep with it, it's likely that our relationship will improve, her behavior will improve and, as I noticed yesterday, her language, social self and gross motor skills may improve as well.

Sick Tomatoes.

Yes, it's happened. The lil'Tomatoes have their first colds. Poor Roger and Sara are miserable. The Tomatoes are doing fine, little runny noses and some sensitivity for Jackson and Tabitha. Aside from that, nothing's really wrong. But poor Roger and Sara. They are having a tough time of it. This is the first one, the first time their lil'Tomatoes have been sick. It's really really tough the first time. 

Yesterday Sara called twice to check in. Roger requested I take their temperature at least three times. And both were very sensitive, worried and easily over-concerned. I think they've made it through the worst of it, both babies seem to be improving, Roger and Sara are starting to relax and we're getting through the week. 

Keeping the tissues coming until next time.