#838 Saturday 16 February

Wet bed ... despite midnight watering stops! 

Tea time ..... Just the 3 of us .... Zoe et al are communing with penguins ..... Debs at Mandurah.

I'm trying a new tactic with the "nagging" .... she has a 10 minute timer and a sheet of paper with 6 circles ..... each 10 minutes with no nagging gets her a crossed off circle. When all the circles are crossed, she gets a Calypo! We get an hour without being nagged at. It's a good deal! The Calypos are very highly motivating.

This afternoon Kaylia and I went for a longish drive .... out to Woorooloo on the highway .... then back via the little old roads. We reached Chidlow from the back of the town .... and Kaylia immediately knew where she was! "Yake" quoth she! .... and she was right.

At this moment she's having a "hose session" ...... on the lawn with a running hose. It's a good deal .... she loves it and it uses much less water than the shower .... and no hot water!

We have been enduring a situation at the villa in Bali ... Ages ago I made friends with the local police in the station near the villa .... and this has proved wise as they knew me and had my Perth phone number.... they were able to call me to discuss the situation and it was very good. The issue hasn't been resolved yet but my groundwork and preparation has been valuable.

Today's musing .... since Kaylia was diagnosed with ASD, life has devolved into survival ..... if we can get through the day - that's ok. If we can get through the day with Kaylia saying "happy feet" .... now that's a good day!

#837 Friday 15 February

It's been a busy day ..... Kaylia is off at school.  The school staff report that her stimminess is causing problems so we'll have to work out a solution.  In reality, her current stimming levels are higher than last year but still much lower than the previous year ... so it's a fine tuning issue I think.

Evening
It's been a bad day all round ..... I feel like screaming .... Naomi feels like screaming ..... we all feel like screaming .... and Kaylia IS screaming. Deb has had enough after two weeks and is going to leave. So we're looking for a new au pair already. It's not an auspicious start to the year.

#836 Thursday 14 February

Wet bed again .... we can't win .... the Risperdal makes her sleep but also makes her sleep through the body's signals. Without Risperdal at night she has a much better chance of taking herself off to the loo in time .... but then she gets poor sleep .... and so do we!

Tea time ..... Kaylia was having a long hose session when I got home today .... I think she would stay under the hose for ever if she could.
It's Valentines ..... and Naomi has had to work late. C'est la vie.

#835 Wednesday 13 February

It's been a long day. It's evening as I write and today has been "dentist day" .... Kaylia loves it! She was so excited when we got there. We had to wait quite a while in 'the room' and Kaylia couldn't stop pacing in anticipation. The therapist was very amused.

When I picked her up from school the class was rehearsing a dance routine for the assembly next week.... Kaylia didn't want to miss it so I let her stay. She's like an bull in the china shop .... so enthusiastic that she bumps into all the other kids in her excitement.

Now we've been shopping after tea and Kaylia's having her nighttime shower.

#834 Tuesday 12 February

Kaylia is really showing the effect of so many changes going on ..... yesterday during therapy she was very unsettled ..... "Alligator" did a great job of "bringing her down" by using lots of tactile rewards .... playdoh ..... shaving cream ...... anything that Kaylia could squeeze and feel.  Her current therapy includes a lot of Q&A .... Is this a hand? (Y or N)  .... Kaylia gets this sort of thing wrong even though she knows the answer.  She has to learn the social need for a correct answer.

After therapy she had a long session on the lawn with the hose.  This is very calming for her as well as watering the lawn at the same time!

3pm .... she's home after a good day at school. Schools says she has been happy today and she's certainly happy now .... having a pre-therapy hose session!

#833 Monday 11 February

Kaylia was showing that she missed having the usual company in the evening. Last night she wanted us to sit with her on the couch .... she wanted "downstairs" .... but we compromised with upstairs.

She has a strong desire for company and social contact ..... it's probably for her version rather than the real deal .... but we won't complain .... what we have is much better than nothing!

#832 Sunday 10 February

Never look a gift horse in the mouth!
Kaylia let us sleep in this morning .... and after breakfast she has entertained herself all morning! Of course part of the "entertainment" was to empty her wardrobe again .... then she raided the lolly store on the pantry ..... the funny thing hasn't learned to hide the evidence! .... there are wrappers all round the bin.


Now she's enjoying a hose on the side lawn. (The hose had been feeding a sprinkler .... but that split when she jumped on it and now she likes to just spray the hose!)


Kaylia is growing into a delightfully "biddable" child .... plenty of mischief but she stops when asked.


While Kaylia plays, I can sit on the little balcony and keep an eye on her ..... and 'blog'......

While eating tonight Naomi and I were playing "What if ...... "

..... if Kaylia hadn't had autism, what would our life have been like?   Well ... I probably would never have discovered 'blogging' for one!  ....and we would never have had aupairs ..... so we would never have met and shared with the wonderful people who have made such a huge difference to us in recent years.  It's hard to imagine just how different life would have been.