#697 Saturday 31 August

3:30am. ..... and no, it's not that!

This time she is sleeping well .... but she had moved over while I was asleep and the pain of being unable to move my hips and legs woke me ..... she was firmly cuddled close up .... so that I couldn't move around.  When this happens, the pain in my joints slowly builds.

So it's painkillers and blog till I can sleep some more .... oh .... and I have moved to a bit of bed real estate that is vacant!

Today is Anne's birthday .... Happy Birthday!

Evening

Kaylia has had a good day with Brynn while Naomi and I were at work .... parks, shops, walks.... and then DVDs at home.

As I write she is sitting on the bed with a stack of about 30 of her DVDs ..... sorting  them and generally enjoying them ... telling me what they are.

#696 Friday 30 August

Review day again today..... planning how to improve and fine-tune her therapy.  She is doing really well.  Much of the work is on social issues ..... teaching her how to recognise social cues .... prompts etc ..... and how to respond.   When you look at all the stuff she has to be taught, it is incredible that children normally learn it all without any special effort!

After tea tonight, Kaylia and I did our usual drive in the car .... with a stop at Maccas for an ice cream.  It's a very pleasant time for us ... she puts on her favourite song ....  and we sing along ..... over and over and over .....

#695 Thursday 29 August

6am ..... another one.  Ho hum.

Last night about 10pm I smelt wee ... so it was "Action Stations!" ..... but she was really deeply asleep and it was very difficult to wake her.  The accident was averted but it showed the nature of the problem .... there's no way that she can respond to her body's signals that that bladder needs to be emptied!

Evening

We survived another day.... Kaylia is happy .... noisy .... singing her head off.

I'm "b....d" .... it's getting harder to cope with a full day of work.  My rocking chair gets awfully attractive.

#694 Wednesday 28 August

"It's 2:50am and all's well" ..... or it's as well as can be when we're not sleeping!  She woke at 2am and it's YouTube to the rescue.

Today is "D Day" .... Dentist Day.

2:45 I'm waiting outside the school till its time to collect her for the trip to ..... "The Dentist"!

She loved it .... as usual.

Afterward it was playground time!

This was really good as there were no other children = no competition for the flying fox!  She was happy.

#693 Tuesday 27 August

Another wet one.   .... and she produced large volumes of wee last night .... so her hydration levels must be 'adequate'!

Bed time.  Another day of good therapy.  You can really "see the cogs whirring" as she thinks about how to complete the tasks in therapy.  She has a program review on Friday and some big changes are needed to cope with her rapid progress.

She has a visit to the dentist tomorrow .... she's very excited!

#692 Monday 26 August

What's the definition of a good day?  A day when I haven't been writing the blog at 2am..... when it gets to 4pm and I remember that the day has just toddled along with nothing particularly bad happening.   ..... and then I think "It's a good day!"

I'm sitting upstairs listening to the therapy session in progress.  Kaylia is identifying emotions that she sees .... Jo being excited ..... happy ..... sad ....  and so on.  Now she is making a conversation ..... taking turns to make a sentence.  These are all skills that she has missed out on ..... her brain hasn't allowed her to be aware of the social situations going on around her and so we have to teach her how to do it!

#691 Sunday 25 August

B%#}%% possums on the roof .... What a racket!   So much for the Sunday morning sleep-in.

Today we get to say "YES" when she asks to go to Aunty Moo's and Aunty Maxine's!

Brilliant!   We're at Aunty Moo's and Kaylia was just given a Magnum ice cream .... as she opened it, the chocolate coating all fell off and went on the floor.   "OH NO!" she says ....

What's the significance of this?  .... that she reacted .... it was a verbal, appropriate reaction ..... Great!