1. Alec gets his final sticker and can claim his reward. It's a small ninja made from sticky rubber. You throw it at the window and it sticks, but gradually comes unstuck so it flops and flollops all the way down. Alec loves it, and so does Nick.
2. For what seems like the eighteenth time I pull Bettany off the table and put her back in her highchair. "Great big girls of one do not crawl around the table," I tell her -- and I _think_ she understood.
3. As promised I go up after 15 minutes. Alec is now quiet and pretending to be asleep. I sit on his bed and hold his hand for a few minutes while he smiles and watches me from under his eyelashes. In due course I leave, promising to set the timer for another quarter of an hour. The next time I go up he is deeply asleep.
