[Bcelli]

Ooooooo ... flap books. Great idea!

[Catherine N.]

If you have two or more of you in your party:

• Have one of you take the camera and get down at the child's eye level to shoot photos. That means on your knees at least and if they are really small, down on your belly.
• Get close. Close in shots are the best for capturing the child and his/her expression and personality. You'll also be able to get a better image of phithium definition if you you're e-mailing photos to an IA physician.
• Try and take pictures:
  • By a window that lets in lots of natural but gentle soft light coming in and lighting the child. North facing windiws usually work best if you can swing it.
  • With the flash turned off. The flash will cast really hard and unflattering light that will all but ruin the photo and put red-eye in the child's eyes. Plus there is a good chance that the flash may frighten the child too.

[RBSVARCHER]

Animal crackers, M & M's and Blow Pops worked for us! Those got DS's full attention with plenty of eye contact. Since this was his first "candy" we got the chance to teach him to hold out his hand to ask for candy and teach him how to hold and eat a sucker. Doesn't seem like much, but it allowed us to observe his fine motor skills by picking up individual M & M's and seeing how fast he could learn new things we showed him to do.

Also, we brought small stickers and put them on his hands and feet. We observed fine motor skills by watching him pick the stickers off and using his balance skills to reach down to his feet to peel them off and we got in some play time at the same time!

Susan