Javi is learning so much. He reaches for objects; he tracks down objects; he smiles AND laughs; his behavior is so clearly social. He does something, and he is starting to expect we do something in return. And, very exciting, he is starting to grab things. He began with his ducky... see Javi's debut on youtube.com

The last couple of weeks have been rewarding and trying. Javi is sleeping longer periods overnight. First he slept 3.5 hours regularly... moved to 4 plus hours, and now he is at 5.5 hours, on the first sleep. The second sleep is another story. He's been difficult, needing a lot of attention. But things are improving. We are trying also to help him sleep on his own, and we are doing this rather gently, taking away the sleep crutches we got him used to: rocking him, having him in our arms, using the vibrating chair, going for walks, going for drives. The goal is to have him get to sleep without these crutches and for this he needs to learn to soothe himself. So, gently, we are reducing the amount of time we are rocking him before we put him to sleep. We'll rock him to drowsy, and, when his eyes close, we time him. We give him 2 or 3 minutes of drowsy, put him on his crib; at this point, he is not fully asleep; so, he wakes up a bit.... open his eyes. Sometimes, he wakes up and we have to start from the beginning. But, when it works, he opens he eyes, notices that we are still with him (typically, at this point, we have a hand on his chest and sh sh him), slowly closes his eyes, in the comfort that he is not alone, and goes to sleep. It's working very regularly, but not always. Sometimes we try this 2, 3, even four times, which means that putting him to sleep is taking 30 or even 45 minutes. But the goal is that he learns to soothe himself, that he discovers his psychological resources that will calm his anxieties and will relax his body and mind. The hope is that with these lessons learned, he can soothe himself in the middle of the night, and connect his sleeps better. We are doing it gently on the theory that we want his sleep to be associated with comfort, including the needed comfort that we are always there for him.

This was taken on December 6; the one below was taken on January 9. Notice the difference in size... his cheeks; his much bigger body... his length. It's all good:)