minister lavrov made no commitments about where the diplomacy will lead. >> translator: i can't say whether we're on the right path or on the wrong path. we will understand this when we get a written reaction from the americans to all our proposals. >> reporter: the stakes are high. russia planning to deploy s-400 anti-aircraft missile systems in belarus. and continuing to bolster its troop presence of more than 100,000 soldiers along all of ukraine's borders. and ukraine's defense minister is now accusing the kremlin of sending tanks and artillery to pro-russian separatists in the country's occupied dombas region claiming they're actively recruiting mercenaries and sending them to the temporarily occupied territory. cnn learned the pentagon is working on a series of military options for president biden to beef up the u.s. military presence in eastern europe as a deterrent. the two foreign ministers committed to meet again and either side counted out the possibility of another meeting between the two presidents. >> translator: we need to understand what will happen before we go to the presidential level. >> reporter: and the u.s. says there will be a high cost for russia if diplomacy doesn't prevail. >> if any russian military forces move across ukraine's border, that's a renewed invasion. it will be met with swift, severe and a united response from the united states and our partners and allies. >> reporter: now, a senior state department official saying tonight, jake, that the biden administration doesn't want to foreclose any diplomatic solution here. so long as the russians are willing to engage in diplomacy, the biden administration will do the same. but if russia moves any further into ukraine, according to this senior state department official, diplomacy is over. >> kylie atwood, thaenks. fred pleitgen is in geneva, switzerland where today's talks took place and matthew chance is in ukraine's capital city of kyiv. you were at the news conference with blinken and lavrov. what was your read on what they had to say? >> well, i think both sides, the american side and russian side, believe they got as much out of this meeting as they could. if you look at secretary of state blinken. he was preparing this meeting meticulously in the days leading up to this. the u.s. did project that it was very much in the corner of ukraine. there were certain principles the u.s. was not willing to move on at all and also showed that the u.s. was united with its allies as well. secretary of state blinken saying that he believes that right now the ball is firmly in vladimir putin's court. and he wants to see de-escalation from the russians, real de-escalation, how he put it. let's listen to some of what he had to say. >> we've heard russian officials say that they have no intention of invading ukraine. in fact, mr. lavrov repeated that to me today. but, again, we're looking at what is visible to all, and it is deeds and actions, not words, that make the difference. >> the russians for their part in the form of sergey lavrov were saying they're happy about the fact they'll get those written responses they have been demanding. of course, the core demand the russians have is they want no more nato expansion. specifically that ukraine will never be admitted as a nato member. >> matthew, you have new reaction from ukrainian officials about these talks. tell us. >> yeah, that's right. i just got off the phone actually from a senior ukrainian official who has been telling me about their reaction to these talks. their concerns that these continuing u.s./russian diplomatic efforts could simply be a delaying tactic by moscow to further prepare for a military offensive. of course, moscow has tens of thousands of troops poised just across the border inside russia for the most part, pointed towards ukraine. and still a great deal of skepticism that this diplomatic process will not lead to, you know, a resolution. it could be a delay tactic. in terms of the coordination between the united states and ukraine, well, we're getting much more positive language coming out of ukraine over the course of the past 24 hours or even less than that. this ukrainian official that i spoke to within the last few minutes said that the two countries are now closely coordinating again on diplomatic efforts and that ukrainian officials have been given a full debrief by the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken following his 90-minute talks with the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov. the official told me the united states had privately stressed to them, the ukrainian officials, that there would be no concessions given to russia when it comes to ukraine and that ukraine would not be coerced to make any concessions. it's because of those private assure arnss, as well as the public ones from president biden that any russian incursion, even a minor one would trigger a harsh response. it has eased ukrainian fears to some extent about the u.s. commitment to their cause. >> matthew chance in ukraine, fred pleitgen in geneva, switzerland. let's bring in senator roger wicker. he traveled this week with a bipartisan group of senators to ukraine and met with ukrainian president zelensky. senator, thanks for joining us. appreciate it. cnn's barbara starr at the pentagon learned today that military leaders are preparing a series of options for president biden's approval to beef up the u.s. military presence in eastern europe, not necessarily in ukraine. do you think this might have the intended goal was a possible deterrence if russia ultimately decides to invade? >> well, i think it might possibly be a deterrent but also would position us to be able to supply arms to our friends in ukraine if we have to. there was a lot of mention in the previous segment about diplomacy. we always have to try diplomacy, but i do think now is the time to actually show that we're going to try to provide the weaponry to the ukrainians to actually defend themselves. >> what's your reaction to -- not sure if you heard it, but matthew chance, our reporter in kyiv just got off the phone with a senior ukrainian official who told cnn that his view is these diplomatic talks between secretary of state blinken and russian foreign minister sergey lavrov are just a delay tactic for putin. >> they might very well be a delay tactic and you have to look at this in the context of what russia has already done. and in 2014, they took crimea and they invaded the eastern part of ukraine. earlier in 2008, they invaded two provinces in the republic of georgia. this country is being led by a man who wants to return to the evil empire that ronald reagan talked about. and when we talk about de-escalation, jake, we're seeing further escalation on the part of russia. they are moving elite troops into belarus very close to kyiv, the capital city but also dangerously close to poland, which is a nato ally and i can tell you, the poles have got to be very, very mindful of that. it seems to me that now is the time to be moving some of our tanks into poland a little closer to that border to be able to defend our nato ally in case something goes wrong there. >> former defense secretary william cohen told cnn today that putin likely has a plan because he's keeping russian troops along the ukrainian border. take a listen. >> putin knows exactly what he wants to do, and he would not put 100,000-plus, perhaps even more today, troops on the border and say oh, you're threatening me with sanctions? i guess i better pull my troops back. he's going to get something out of this. >> do you think that putin does have an end goal beyond invading ukraine that maybe he just wants, for instance, a u.s./nato promise to not make ukraine a nato country? what do you think? >> we should never make that promise, and particularly at the point of a gun. and we shouldn't be making that promise with regard to the republic of georgia either. so i have a lot of respect for bill cohen, and i think he probably knows what he's talking about. i think the reason 100,000 troops are amassed on the eastern border of ukraine and they're bringing troops in to the compliant neighbor of belarus is that putin is up to something. it could be a massive attack on the capital city of kyiv. it could be an assassination attempt. some sort of a coup. or just a few miles. our strong message of our delegation this weekend is that none of that is acceptable and on a bipartisan basis, the senate of the united states backs the ability of this little country to make their own determination as to whether to be a free market oriented western looking country or to be closer to the old soviet union. they have that right. and i think at least we gave a bipartisan message of support from the senate this weekend. >> you are on the senate armed services committee. president biden said in december that the u.s. intervening unilaterally in ukraine is not an option. do you think he should reconsider that? would you support either u.s. troops in ukraine or u.s. troops in ukraine as part of a la largeernato mission. >> here's where the president makes mistakes is when he publicly takes things off the table. it has been our policy since president eisenhower, consistently or republican and democratic presidents alike, not to rule things out. i think our response should be, you will regret this. frankly vladimir putin is the neighborhood bully. and he's never gotten a bloody nose from anything he's ever done. the assassinations, the poisonings, the invasion of his neighbors. i do think the people of ukraine this time will resist whatever happens. and it would be a mistake that putin would regret for a long, long time. >> have you or any of your colleagues who were on this bipartisan trip to ukraine, have any of you talked with president biden or anyone at the white house about what you saw and what you heard while you were there? >> absolutely. we talked to him in a classified setting the very next morning after we got back. no question about it. and i think our message was that the ukrainian people are not panicked. but they are resolved. they've been fighting the russian troops since 2014 and they have lost thousands and thousands of ukrainian troops. so this is really not new to them. but they are going to fight city by city, block to block and house to house, rather than submit to putin's russia. >> let's hope that it doesn't come to that. republican senator roger wicker of mississippi. thank you for your time, sir. really appreciate it. >> thank you, jake. it just never seems to end. a new report about an insane executive order. never actually filed, thankfully, that donald trump had drafted that would have seized all voting machines and election records. then he did anything for love. singer meat loaf passes away but his music will live on. stay with us. get decision tech. for insights on when to buy and sell. and proactive alerts on market events. that's decision tech. only from fidelity. why hide your skin if dupixent has your moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis under control? 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"preservision is backed by 20 years of clinical studies" "and its from the eye experts at bausch and lomb" so, ask your doctor about adding preservision. and fill in a missing piece of your plan. like i did with preservision" >> vo: my car is my after-work decompression zone. ♪ music ♪ >> vo: so when my windshield broke... i found the experts at safelite autoglass. they have exclusive technology and service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ (music) ♪ i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ we're back with our politics lead. and a week of bad legal news for donald trump. the january 6th committee wants to talk to his daughter ivanka. a georgia district attorney requested a special grand jur tree gather evidence and compel witnesses to look at trump's attempts to overturn the election results in that state. and the new york attorney general's office says it has identified numerous misleading statements and omissions in the trump organization's financial statements. as cnn's sara murray reports for us, the legal troubles may not stop any time soon for the former president. >> reporter: an extraordinary week of investigators ramping up legal pressure on former president donald trump and his family. >> as a district attorney, i do not have the right to look the other way on any crime that may have happened in my jurisdiction. >> reporter: in georgia's fulton county, the district attorney is asking to see a special grand jury this spring to collect evidence for her probe into trump's efforts to overturn georgia's 2020 election results. she wants subpoenas for testimony from witnesses like georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger, trump's target in this infamous call last year. >> all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes. which is one more than we have. because we won the state. >> reporter: the special grand jury request a sign they are pursuing possible criminal charges against trump and his allies. >> reporter: manhattan's new district attorney has now been briefed on the criminal investigation there into the trump organization. last year he told cnn the trump case merits the attention of the da personally. new york attorney general letitia james also ramping up her investigation into the trumps. >> we have conducted a civil investigation into the trump organization. we also have a parallel investigation, a criminal investigation. >> reporter: she's looking to compel testimony from trump and ivanka and donald trump jr. in her civil probe after laying out a trove of findings about what her office believes are fraudulent or misleading financial statements. this as the house select committee investigating the january 6th insurrection now asking ivanka trump to voluntarily cooperate and shed light on the pressure her father put on pence not to certify the election. >> she could really, you know, perhaps complete the portrait of what happened on january 6th for us. >> reporter: the committee also sifting through documents from the national archives after the supreme court cleared the way for their release. >> it's been a very good week for us with the supreme court decision rejecting trump's efforts to block release of a whole bunch of documents. >> reporter: while witnesses like former white house press secretary stephanie grisham shed light on trump's paranoid mindset and the meetings he was convening in the white house ahead of january 6th. >> there were meetings taking place up there. mark meadows would have been there as well as the legal team working on all of the plans. >> reporter: and politico is reporting one of the documents trump wanted to keep secret from the congressional investigators was a draft executive order requiring the defense secretary to seize voting machines. of course, trump has denied any wrongdoing in all of these investigations and said they are politically motivated. >> of course. sara murray, thanks. dozens of republicans are spending millions of dollars spreading the big lie hoping it will help them cash in at the polls. and that story is next. slash... and this is the basement slash panic room. maybe what your family needs is a vacation home slash vacation home. find yours on the vrbo app. we have to be able to repair the enamel on a daily basis. with pronamel repair toothpaste, we can help actively repair enamel in its weakened state. it's innovative. my go to toothpaste is going to be pronamel repair. so, you're recalibrating and reconnecting to the environment. seeing yourself as an artist -legitimate and genuine- can be transformational. daddy! for the best audio entertainment and storytelling. audible. 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[echoing] get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ i like that my plan is built just for me. with the new ww personalpoints program, you take an assessment, enter your goals, the foods you love and what fits into your lifestyle. you don't have to eat diet food. i can enjoy the things that i really love like wine... cheese. you can add points for eating vegetables or being active. i lost 26 pounds and i feel incredible. the all new ww personalpoints program. join today for 50% off at ww.com hurry! offer ends january 24th! feel stuck with student loan debt? move to sofi and feel what it's like to get your money right. ♪ ♪ ♪ move your student loan debt to sofi- you could save with low rates and no fees. earn a $1,000 bonus when you refi- and get your money right. in our politics lead today, the newest midterm election trend, republican house and senate candidates spending millions of dollars on ads to tout donald trump's big lie. it's happening in missouri, in arizona, it's happening in ohio. before we air any clips, what you are about to watch has absolutely no basis in reality. >> the democrats rigged the election. >> they lie. waste our money. rig our elections. >> president trump says the election was stolen, and he's right. >> let's go to our panel. aisha, trump is putting pressure on these candidates to embrace the big lie, the deranged conspiracy theories. is it a mistake for these gop candidates to be looking backward rather than forward? >> i mean, i think in the short term it probably is not a mistake if you're only looking at it politically. for the sake of the democracy, in this country, you know, to continue to make people doubt elections is not good, full stop. but for them politically, this is where their base is. their base believes the lies. their base believes that, you know, biden is not the rightful president. so they are playing into that and by doing that, it's also showing the association, right? it's saying, i'm one of you. you believe this. i do, too. i am with -- and most of all, i'm with trump. so you can vote for me. obviously, there are long-term consequences and i think when it gets down to actual elections and, you know, they are going up against democrats focusing on the last election is probably not the way to win. you have to focus on bread and butter issues. but for them to get attention right now, unfortunately, it does work. >> and philip, obviously the problem is beyond rhetoric. politico obtained a draft of a trump executive order he never thankfully issued but it would have instructed the secretary of defense to, quote, seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, electronically stored information and material records required for retention having to do with voting machines. the document that politico obtained is dated december 16th, 2020. it's becoming clear the weeks between the election and the insurrection could have been far worse than they were. >> yeah, that's exactly right. it's this executive order, had it been issued, we had seen other reports of trump having seized upon executive actions that he tried to effect between the election and inauguration which never actually went anywhere. one he submitted to the department of defense on something else. it's not clear what would have happened had he signed his name to this. but there was absolutely this very, very robust effort to try and move forward with any strategy that came on to his table that might possibly preserve his power. i think what's fascinating about the executive order that politico obtained is how even then, even on december 16th it was rooted in nonsense. it centered on this issue in michigan in the northern part of michigan which had already been debunked. it was already set aside november 5th. well over a month before this thing is dated, but the conspiracy theory lived on and could have been the predicate for the president of the united states to seize election machines across the country and try and force this broad federal investigation into an election that there is no evidence was tainted in any way by significant fraud. >> it's nuts. michael flynn, the former general, was talking about declaring at least partial -- invoking a partial martial law to seize the voting machines. coincidentically in states that biden won. politico reporting that trump has floated the idea of making dual midterm endorsements because he doesn't trust his advisers. he feels he's being penned in said a person close to the former president, explaining trump's lodge sick that dual endorsements would mean that i get two chances to win. i mean, so -- tell me what you think. >> it really shows your confidence, right. it's like vote for him or him or him or them or whoever. like it's not really a vote of confidence if you endorse more than one person in the same election. like, it shows how intent he is on showing the power of his endorsement, but if your endorsement is really powerful, then the person you endorse will get the boost, right? you don't have to worry if it's really the power of your name. i think the problem is, as oftentimes with trump -- within trump's circle is that everyone has competing interests and, you know, conflicts of interest and things that they are pushing and so no one trusts anyone. and that's really just a problem within trump's inner circle. as far as republicans, i think if he does move ahead with endorsing more than one person in an election, i think, you know, it definitely dilutes the seriousness of his endorsements if that's going to be the case. >> yeah, it actually could hurt -- it could split the trump vote. it could be counterproductive. phil, let's switch to president trump -- i'm sorry, president biden and a noticeable shift in strategy heading into his second year. "the new york times" obtained white house memos that lay out his new approach. a, ramp up attacks on republicans ahead of the midterms. b, travel more. engage with voters. c, focus on what he's already accomplished. we didn't need that memo. we saw him do that the other day. do you think that this is also a signal that biden is essentially giving up on pushing through any new big legislation? >> yeah, we're already hearing these rumblings that everything is going to come down to manchin or he wants to start from scratch. i don't think president biden has much of a choice. i think it's an indication that 2022 is 20 from 2021 because the midterms of approaching but it's an acknowledgment that where he is now is not where he needs to be. he made this comment during his press conference earlier this week that he didn't believe the polls. this is a strong indication that he probably puts a little faith in polls that show his approval rating is a little low. he's trying to go out and do more things that show the american people why they ought to have confidence in him and his administration. it's an uphill fight he's been fighting all along against right wing media and republicans and wants to try to shift that narrative. is this the way to do it? i think he's always prided himself on being a glad handy person of the people who can go out and have these conversations with everyday voters. that's what he's trying to leverage now. but it's an uphill fight. this is already promising to be a very, very, very difficult year for his party. and i am not sure that there's really a lot that he can do between now and november to scale that back. a lot of outside circumstances are what's going to have to change that he may not have much control over. >> two of our favorites, philip bump and ayesha, thank you. tune in sunday on "state of the union" with antony blinken and joni bernst and bernie sanders. coming up, the proposal causing members of the biden administration to butt heads. stick around. i've got moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer ♪ ♪ i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin, yeah, that's all me ♪ ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin, that's my new plan ♪ ♪ nothing is everything ♪ achieve clearer skin with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. of those, nearly 9 out of 10 sustained it through 1 year. and skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. ♪ i see nothing in a different way ♪ ♪ it's my moment so i just gotta say ♪ ♪ nothing is everything ♪ skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms... such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs... or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪ nothing is everything ♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. at carvana, we treat every customer like we would treat our own moms, with care and respect. to us, the little things are the big things. which is why we do everything in our power to make buying a car an unforgettable experience. happy birthday. thank you. we treat every customer like we would treat our own moms. because that's what they deserve. i didn't know my genetic report could tell me i was prone to harmful blood clots. i travel a ton, so this info was kind of life changing. maybe even lifesaving. ♪do you know what the future holds?♪ in our national lead, new tensions inside the white house over a proposal to vaccinate migrants at the u.s./mexico border. some say this would encourage more people to come to the united states, to flee to the united states. a white house spokesperson said a final decision has not yet been made. priscilla alvarez covers immigration for us. this idea first floated by the department of homeland security but white house officials were quick to shoot it down back then. why is the proposal coming back up now? >> simply put, jake, this remains an issue. migrants are still crossing the u.s./mexico border and are being quickly expelled under a public health authority either to mexico or to their origin country. and some officials see this as a way to address public health concerns. and as you mentioned, this is a plan that did come up last year. and was a source of tension within the white house. top white house officials, including susan rice, shot it down because they saw or they believed that it would encourage more migrants. the white house disputed that saying a decision was not made at the time and has still not been made but this plan would apply to migrants 5 years old and up and would prioritize families if they are released into the u.s. as they await their u.s. court hearings. and we should also note that the federal government does offer vaccines to immigrants in immigration and customs enforcement and migrant children in the custody of health and human services department. this would take it one step further by offering those vaccines to migrants crossing the u.s./mexico border. >> last year president biden set many ambitious goals to repeal many of donald trump's hard-line policies at the border. give us a status report. what has biden been able to do? >> border aside, the biden administration has been able to make inroads on various issues with immigration, like opening legal immigration back up. modifying rules on interior enforcement. but it is the border that gets the most attention and that is often used as a barometer of success for an administration and that's where they have faced numerous challenges, not only here at home but also across the western hemisphere which has struggled with the pandemic. president biden acknowledged that in his news conference this week. take a listen. >> we don't dictate what happens in any other part of this continent or the south american continent. we have to work very hard on it. but the trouble is bier having great difficulty making up for the mistakes made the last four years. it's going to take some time. >> and jake, time is the key word there. the biden administration is working on overhauling the a asylum system at the border flirting with new technology, but all of that will take time. >> priscilla alvarez, thank you. months after the variant was first detected, the covid wards are almost empty in south africa. is the u.s. looking at a similar path for omicron here? 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(vo) this year, t-mobile for business is here to help you hit the ground running. when you switch to t-mobile and bring your own device, we'll pay off your phone up to $800. you can keep your phone. keep your number. and get your employees connected on the largest and fastest 5g network. plus, we give you $200 in facebook ads on us! so you can reach more customers, create more opportunities, and make this the best year for your business yet. visit your local t-mobile store today. you could be working with someone outside your company and wait for back and forth e-mail, or a call to be rescheduled for the third time. orrr... you could use slack. and work faster with everyone you work with, together in one place. slack. where the future works. in our health lead, a ray of hope. the u.s. is showing early signs that the worst of omicron could soon be behind us. cases in the u.s. while still sky high have dropped 8% from a week ago. public health experts in south africa also watched an alarming spike in cases last month followed by a steep decline there. in johannesburg, south africa, david mckenzie explains what's on the other side of the omicron surge. >> even in the height of omicron, no one was in this ward for covid. >> that's quite correct. >> reporter: when omicron was discovered in south africa, dr. richard freedland prepared his hospital for a rush of covid-19 patients. a rush that never game. >> we never stopped elective surgery. we never closed our coffee shops. we never stopped visitors coming into the hospital. >> reporter: this after three brutal waves of covid. each more severe than the last pummeled this country. charities built field wards just to cope. >> this is a hospital of over 440 beds and 80% of our beds were dedicated to covid patients. >> reporter: but when the highly transmissible omicron hit -- >> i think in the fourth wave we've seen a totally different picture. we've seen a milder and moderate version of covid-19. as the waves off in south africa of omicron, what comes next? >> globally, we've really got to try to find the sweet spot. and by that i mean trying to find a way that societies can begin to function again normally. >> reporter: in suwetta, they aren't just functioning, they're thriving. >> i'm very excited because i'm still alive. >> reporter: scientists here believe that the high levels of prior infection and substantial vaccination rates around 40% of adults are fully vaccinated, significantly softened omicron's impact. early indications are that the variant itself may be less deadly. how do you feel about this year? >> i think now it's going to be better now. probably covid is ending. >> reporter: are people being overly optimistic about where we are right now? >> certainly that's a scenario that we can potentially contemplate, but equally on the other side of the spectrum is a scenario that says this variant is replaced by something far more virulent. >> reporter: a year after our first visit to his bio safety level 3 lab, they are still working to answer those critical questions. >> it just goes like wildfire. but it's not -- it doesn't cause as severe of a disease. >> reporter: the latest research shows that in a lab setting, omicron infections can protect against the more virulent delta variant. he says vaccines are still critical to avoid severe illness and death. in a year's time from now, what kind of discussion do you think we'll be having about covid? >> there's a good chance we'll be standing here and discussing the next variant. and maybe the virus is going to surprise us again. but in my opinion, we know more now than we did a year ago. and in a year's time, we'll be in even better shape. >> reporter: scientists just don't know if omicron is covid-19's end game. but many do hope, like all of us, that the worst is behind us, not in front. there are more than two years after this virus hit this country, jake. i haven't seen optimism like i've seen with these scientists. they feel optimistic right now. but the cdc says that it's impossible to tell whether what's happening in south africa will happen in the u.s. they do say, though, that it's important to get those booster shots to protect you from omicron. jake? >> david mckenzie in johannesburg, south africa, appreciate it. earlier this week, dr. anthony fauci said he hopes a covid vaccine for children under 5 will be available perhaps as soon as a month from now. there are nearly 20 million people in this country under the age of 5. many of their parents have reached a new level of desperation in this pandemic. just check out these headlines. npr, parents and care givers of young children say they've hit pandemic rock bottom. "new york times," no shots, no day care. parents of kids under 5 stuck in grueling limbo. cnn, parents of the youngest kids are not okay right now. joining us now to share her expertise and insights, dr. andrea bonoir, clinical therapist. the advice you and i can follow. wear a mask. get the vaccine. get the booster. quarantine for five days after exposure. stay away from others if you get sick. much of that is useless for families with kids under 5. what do you tell them? what do you recommend families do when it doesn't apply to their family situation? >> it's so hard because i think >> i can't move on and i got someone that can't be vaccinated in my household and people are burnt out and exhausted and the parents that i'm working with i tell them you are not alone. there is power in using the voice, in speaking out, in asking for help from other parents and other people in the community but i think we have a larger problem where we ignore a segment of the population in burnout mode. >> what advice do you have for the families on how to survive this moment? >> yeah. the first step really is to remember that this is finite. it seems like it's not because it has been so long and the moving goal posts and uncertainty are incredibly treacherous and difficult but we are much closer now to the young children getting vaccinated than ever been. people hoped for the vaccine to be earlier that is good news from coming from dr. fauci it is on the way and we can hope for the fact that by spring we look at a much different situation and look back at what happened so far. they have endured the worst and two winters and think about what worked and what didn't, what people you relied on and made you laugh and gave you a break and utilize them because isolation makes everything worse. >> a writer for slate wrote on the unpredictability of the toddler. there is a knife orr the heads. the terxt alert will come. how can we all cope better with this unpredictability? >> i think there needs to be much more action. child care is in crisis right now. there needs to be funding to raise pages because this is not sustainable. i do think that parents need to speak up more because i think they're forgotten. it is 'em pow iring to feel like you are heard. the sense of community is so important and offering to help how you can and getting help in return. that's the only thing that will get us through. >> if a baby or small child is sick they ultimately welcome feelings of guilt and blame, self blame. how can anyone in that situation overcome the feelings of shame? >> try to think of the big picture. we are doing the best that we can. showing the values to your child. the child needs love and care and probably a chance that they get infected and not because of anything that you did that you need to feel ashamed over. we have been through somp already and when the kids come out of this they remember not to they got sick but how the parents made them feel in that time and if they felt safer and loved even if they were sick. >> i hope the parents in this situation are hearing your words, especially the ones that work on my staff and been through a different pandemic than the rest of us. we love yin so much. thank you. we remember meatloaf. stay with us. limu? sorry, one sec. doug blows several different whistles. doug blows several different whistles. 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