Comforted by a Monkey

When we are at the hospital (Alisha is the one who spends the majority of the time there), lots of what we do is just trying to get Roscoe to settle down and rest. We know that as he grows bigger he'll become more stable, and the way he grows is by resting and not burning energy. That means that the more he can rest, the more stable he'll become and the sooner we'll get to take him home.

The big problem is that Roscoe doesn't realize this and he has a different agenda about what should happen. Here's Alisha trying to pacify him with the monkey pacifier that he got from UCSF. It's a back-and-forth battle of wills.

We sing to Roscoe and talk to him alot too, but when we're doing that we're often too focused on him (or too shy) to remember to record it for everyone to see.

Lately I've started playing games with him to stimulate his mind. When he moves his hand to touch my finger, I'll say "fingers" each time he does it so that he learns cause and effect. We've noticed that he'll flop his hand around when he knows something is nearby until he's able to grab onto it, then he locks on and doesn't let go. Sometimes his little finger tips turn white because he's holding on so tight!

Another game I have started playing with him has to do with proximity (but he doesn't know that word yet). I will bring the pacifier out about 10-12" in front of him, then say "Here it comes" and bring it in closer and closer until it touches his lips. I am hoping that he starts being able to predict that the pacifier will touch his lips before it gets there, just based on it visually getting bigger as it gets nearer. If not, I can just show him this video from my youth where I learned the concept: