baby steps therapy, and wherever you go

Okay, the baby steps therapy--this intrigued me.

This morning on Anderson Cooper, which has turned out to be a surprisingly entertaining program, a counselor was talking about cognitive therapy for anxiety and OCD, and he referred to his method as, "baby steps therapy."

p.j. was bouncing around the room being her rambunctious, funny self and for a second I was puzzled by what he meant.  Baby steps therapy--that could be good.  Hanging around with cute babies could help anxiety, I suppose.

Duh.  No, that's not what he meant.  He meant baby steps as in changing behavior in tiny increments.

Well.

I think my idea could be useful too.

Later I told this to the kids and Tim wondered if baby steps therapy was like where people cuddle you and feed you crackers and milk.    Hmm.  That might make people feel better too.

Anyway, today we had a LOT of baby steps therapy, and we were all happy because of it.

John called and the first thing he said was, "Did you get any sleep?"

Me:  "Yeah."

John:  "Good. Yesterday you looked like shit and you were sooo crabby."

Wow.   Well, John. What do you  REALLY think?    It's okay.  It's true.

Here are pictures from today.

This afternoon, this guy came to visit for an hour or so.    He loved the monkey decorations in the bathroom, "Tick-a, Tick-a, Tick-a, Monkeys!  Monkeys!"

And they worked the baby cell phones:

See how wherever he goes, she's right behind him?

 Here he's had enough and rolled over on her.  She didn't even care.

And that's the end of Friday, and what a beautiful Friday it was.  I love baby steps therapy.  

love you kids,  Grandma, aka Mom

the first of march

The first of March started out with me feeling real cranky.   I get like that sometimes--like when anyone mentions taxes, even when our sweet accountant, Gladys, mentions them.

(Big, loud sigh.)   I love Gladys, but still.

I get super touchy, and also want to bang my forehead on the desk.

But soon the mood was much improved.    My sister came to hug b.g.'s little brother, since b.g. and Alicia were coming for lunch.  They listened to me bitch and rolled their eyes and nodded. Soon I felt a lot better. 



Plus my sweetie l.c. was here being babysat too.   Here he and Julia are after I went to investigate a lot of screaming in the bathroom.   l.c. was awful wet, even his hair.    I said, "What's going on in here??"

Julia said, "I'm flossing."

"Flossing?  Tell me the truth."

(Flossing, my butt.)

Well, Tim had put a Knex spinner device on his drill and was spinning it in a sink full of water. That's why the grandchild was all wet.

I held him for a few minutes while he cried and finally after acknowledging water in both  his little EARS asked, "Are you hurt, or just wet?"

"Jes wet."  Awww.

Here's the device.  Put that on the table and leave it there.  We've all seen the demonstration and it's done.

I don't know what's going on here.

But what's going on in these pictures is pretty much as it appears.

Here they are after raiding the dress up clothes bins in Kari's room. She found the mess really upsetting, but it's all good in the end.

Tim dressed the tiger in a bridesmaid's dress.

This picture was taken specifically to capture those perfect little lips.

She's taking calls on the Barbie cell phone.

And she's taking care of l.c.'s baby.

James and b.g.'s little brother.

A little milk in a special cup makes everything good.

Last week when he was here and out in the back yard playing in the snow, he looked up at the door and saw p.j. sucking back his special milk in the window, and I guess he hollered and howled about it, helpless, stuck in a snow bank.

Imagine how upsetting that would be.

Here they are, a family of four, smiling on command.

Okay, who do the kids look like?

Dan or Alicia?

Can anyone tell when two parents look like twins?

And at the end of the day was the Pop's Concert.   They dress in costumes and play pop music.  Tonight's was TV theme songs.  James is in the red shirt with a blue blanky over his shoulder:  Linus.

And there's Maria against the wall in the blue jacket as Woody Woodpecker.

The concert was fantastic and fun--popcorn allowed in the auditorium tonight.   Even Tim, Julia, and Kari liked it.

And when we came outside, the evening was lush and warm, big pink snowflakes falling, sky bright as day.

It's March and tomorrow is Friday and everything is okay.    Sigh.   love, Val