Oops .... missed one! Yesterday was busy with office work in the morning followed by lunch in the middle of the day .... then back to Midland office to interview a new staff person.
Through it all Kaylia was a delight. The change in medication is still giving her a good time. At times its very hard to get her attention ... but she's still remembering the correct social responses most of the time.
On the theory that the R may have had a side effect of contributing to the anxiety, we have made a slight reduction in the Lovan dose.... it seems to be better. She's not needing the top up of Lovan and she's still very happy. Her sleep is much more restless though .... a known effect of R is that it helps kids sleep.
The new data we have gathered will help us to assess the effect of returning to R in a couple of weeks time.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
#788 Thursday 27 December
Evening
As I write I'm downstairs in the basement office .... me on my computer and Kaylia beside me on Naomi's computer. She is quite adept ..... she can turn on, start programs, maximise screens .... all the while she is bouncing up and down on the swivel chair and chortling with pleasure.
Now she's found some containers of Playdoh .... these are much more important!
Today has been a busy day .... we're painting the entry room upstairs ..... it has some tricky scaffold work required to reach the top of a wall in the stairwell. It's looking good ... it will be worth the effort.
As I write I'm downstairs in the basement office .... me on my computer and Kaylia beside me on Naomi's computer. She is quite adept ..... she can turn on, start programs, maximise screens .... all the while she is bouncing up and down on the swivel chair and chortling with pleasure.
Now she's found some containers of Playdoh .... these are much more important!
Today has been a busy day .... we're painting the entry room upstairs ..... it has some tricky scaffold work required to reach the top of a wall in the stairwell. It's looking good ... it will be worth the effort.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
#787 Wednesday 26 December
Boxing Day .... is that because we need to get rid of all the boxes?
Kaylia is very happy this morning ... she has Mummy all to herself for a 'sleep-in' and she's having a great time! I can hear her from two floors down!
Today .... we are NOT going to the post Christmas sales! No Way! Probably it will be swimming somewhere .... maybe the lake.
Afternoon
Things didn't turn out that way .... it's way too hot! Kaylia is happy in her room .... stimming away. We were discussing whether it is OK for her to be doing this ..... my thoughts are that this is the first time she has been able to just relax. Pre-Risperdal she was stimming too ... but then she was so full of anxiety that she couldn't relax with it. Now the Lovan allows her to be herself without the anxiety. She may have a set-back as a result of not being able to concentrate on language ..... but I think she should be allowed to enjoy this time.
Evening
Kaylia and I went for a car drive after tea and she had her new favorite (Taylor Swift - Trouble) on repeat .... she was happy. Now we're downstairs in the basement office ... she has You-tube playing her Wiggles etc .... while I'm at my computer writing the blog. How cosy!
Kaylia is very happy this morning ... she has Mummy all to herself for a 'sleep-in' and she's having a great time! I can hear her from two floors down!
Today .... we are NOT going to the post Christmas sales! No Way! Probably it will be swimming somewhere .... maybe the lake.
Afternoon
Things didn't turn out that way .... it's way too hot! Kaylia is happy in her room .... stimming away. We were discussing whether it is OK for her to be doing this ..... my thoughts are that this is the first time she has been able to just relax. Pre-Risperdal she was stimming too ... but then she was so full of anxiety that she couldn't relax with it. Now the Lovan allows her to be herself without the anxiety. She may have a set-back as a result of not being able to concentrate on language ..... but I think she should be allowed to enjoy this time.
Evening
Kaylia and I went for a car drive after tea and she had her new favorite (Taylor Swift - Trouble) on repeat .... she was happy. Now we're downstairs in the basement office ... she has You-tube playing her Wiggles etc .... while I'm at my computer writing the blog. How cosy!
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
#786 Tuesday 25 December
Happy Christmas to you all!
I hope you had a good night. naomi excelled herself in the culinary delights with a mouth-watering roast ... followed by a Christmas Eve spent watching a movie .... and Zoe took Kaylia to another 'carols by candle light'. Again, Kaylia really loved it.
Afternoon:
Christmas has been good .... a quiet start followed by the "Kaylia Present Extravaganza"! Many, many presents for Kaylia ..... and she had a ball unwrapping them. She REALLY gets into unwrapping. There were many dingle dangles so she is in stimmy heaven.
We went to Mim's for lunch and Kaylia was given a CD of Taylor Swift (Red) .... it has one of her current favourites on it .... "Trouble" ..... and on the way home, the CD went into the player and we listened to "Trouble" over and over all the way home! We all sang along .... it was a raucous, happy drive.
Evening:
We've had a pleasant evening with family up to our place for tea. As usual Kaylia was right into opening her presents. Now we're 'chillin' .... a fitting conclusion to Christmas Day!
I hope you had a good night. naomi excelled herself in the culinary delights with a mouth-watering roast ... followed by a Christmas Eve spent watching a movie .... and Zoe took Kaylia to another 'carols by candle light'. Again, Kaylia really loved it.
Afternoon:
Christmas has been good .... a quiet start followed by the "Kaylia Present Extravaganza"! Many, many presents for Kaylia ..... and she had a ball unwrapping them. She REALLY gets into unwrapping. There were many dingle dangles so she is in stimmy heaven.
We went to Mim's for lunch and Kaylia was given a CD of Taylor Swift (Red) .... it has one of her current favourites on it .... "Trouble" ..... and on the way home, the CD went into the player and we listened to "Trouble" over and over all the way home! We all sang along .... it was a raucous, happy drive.
Evening:
We've had a pleasant evening with family up to our place for tea. As usual Kaylia was right into opening her presents. Now we're 'chillin' .... a fitting conclusion to Christmas Day!
Monday, December 24, 2012
#785 Monday 24 December
Christmas Eve! It's a special one ... we are trying to meld Austrian and Australian customs. The differences aren't big but it's interesting.
Stop press .... important!
I weighed Kaylia this morning ..... she has been off the Risperdal for 2 weeks and she's lost 2kg! This is terrific. We won't be able to keep her off the 'R' fo more than a month .... so it won't make a big difference to her 'over-weightness' .... but it shows that the weight gain probably isn't a long term problem. Once we can get Kaylia to a point where she can 'self-manage' the stimming etc (that the R controls), then she can stop taking R and her weight will return to a healthy level.
Last night AJ and Zoe took Kaylia to a "Carols by Candlelight" nearby ..... and she loved it! She danced and danced ..... and knocked AJ over so she could sit on top of her!
Last night I created a 'BlogBook' PDF for the period 11 Jan to now ..... it's been an interesting time and having the blog in the correct order makes it so much easier to read ..... all 169 pages of it! The blog statistics are becoming impressive .... 24,000 views, 450 pages of writing, readers all over the world ...... I wish we could know a little about the readers .... clearly some read the blog because they know us but there must be many, many readers who are reading it for some other reason. I wonder what it is.
Later:
This is a musing ramble ... so be patient! In 1976 Anne & I bought an Engel car fridge in Alice Springs. It has served me well over the years .... 36 years now ..... and has never given any trouble. I've often remarked on it's longevity so I thought I'd see if the manufacturers keep track of the 'oldies'. Their website shows a picture of one bought in 1962 that died in January this year! So they are interested in the old ones. I sent them an email with the details. Maybe in another 14 or 15 years time, my Engel will be breaking a record.
Stop press .... important!
I weighed Kaylia this morning ..... she has been off the Risperdal for 2 weeks and she's lost 2kg! This is terrific. We won't be able to keep her off the 'R' fo more than a month .... so it won't make a big difference to her 'over-weightness' .... but it shows that the weight gain probably isn't a long term problem. Once we can get Kaylia to a point where she can 'self-manage' the stimming etc (that the R controls), then she can stop taking R and her weight will return to a healthy level.
Last night AJ and Zoe took Kaylia to a "Carols by Candlelight" nearby ..... and she loved it! She danced and danced ..... and knocked AJ over so she could sit on top of her!
Last night I created a 'BlogBook' PDF for the period 11 Jan to now ..... it's been an interesting time and having the blog in the correct order makes it so much easier to read ..... all 169 pages of it! The blog statistics are becoming impressive .... 24,000 views, 450 pages of writing, readers all over the world ...... I wish we could know a little about the readers .... clearly some read the blog because they know us but there must be many, many readers who are reading it for some other reason. I wonder what it is.
Later:
This is a musing ramble ... so be patient! In 1976 Anne & I bought an Engel car fridge in Alice Springs. It has served me well over the years .... 36 years now ..... and has never given any trouble. I've often remarked on it's longevity so I thought I'd see if the manufacturers keep track of the 'oldies'. Their website shows a picture of one bought in 1962 that died in January this year! So they are interested in the old ones. I sent them an email with the details. Maybe in another 14 or 15 years time, my Engel will be breaking a record.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
#784 Sunday 23 December
Yesterday we managed to wear ourselves out by painting a room ... then Kaylia was struck by 'transition woes' .... she has trouble handling changes in circumstances ... in this case the change from school to holiday. Last night she was upset that she couldn't go to school the next day. Then she had a bad night. She woke at 4 am and that was it ... she was able to manage herself till 6am but then she wanted the day to start!
To have a bad night after tiring ourselves out with the painting ..... phew! It's hard to cope today.
The change in medication has been interesting. It's very clear that the Risperdal is essential for Kaylia's learning. After two weeks with out it, she has reverted to being highly stimmy .... in some ways this makes her a bit easier to manage .... she looks after herself by stimming! It is very hard to get her attention when we want to talk to her though. She's really off in la-la land. As we expected, her appetite has reverted to the days of old ..... she hardly wants to eat anything. The urge to eat is now just habit and if she asks for food, she usually doesn't eat it.
Disaster (of a form) struck for Zoe this morning ... she took Kaylia to the local swimming pool ... and found that the staff had allocated ALL the pool to the lap swimmers .... with no space for kids like Kaylia. A bit strange I think ..... it meant a short swimming session for her.
Evening .... I've just noticed that the blog has passed a little milestone today ..... twenty four thousand views!
To have a bad night after tiring ourselves out with the painting ..... phew! It's hard to cope today.
The change in medication has been interesting. It's very clear that the Risperdal is essential for Kaylia's learning. After two weeks with out it, she has reverted to being highly stimmy .... in some ways this makes her a bit easier to manage .... she looks after herself by stimming! It is very hard to get her attention when we want to talk to her though. She's really off in la-la land. As we expected, her appetite has reverted to the days of old ..... she hardly wants to eat anything. The urge to eat is now just habit and if she asks for food, she usually doesn't eat it.
Disaster (of a form) struck for Zoe this morning ... she took Kaylia to the local swimming pool ... and found that the staff had allocated ALL the pool to the lap swimmers .... with no space for kids like Kaylia. A bit strange I think ..... it meant a short swimming session for her.
Evening .... I've just noticed that the blog has passed a little milestone today ..... twenty four thousand views!
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