#760 Saturday 14 December

It's 2am and I've slept through the "wee run" times .... so Kaylia has woken up with a wet bed again.  At least she goes back to sleep again.  In 'nights past' she would then be awake for an hour or two ..... she would be downstairs and noisy .... we didn't have to worry as we could hear what she was doing.

#759 Thursday 12 December

One of the benefits of writing this blog is that the process makes me appreciate Kaylia.  I'm having to think about what to write .... and without that prompt, I would probably be much less aware of her.  So the blogging process is good for me .... as well as producing a detailed record of her life.

#758 Wednesday 11 December

Last night we were having the usual battle with the DVD player .... trying to get it to work ..... (I think it's time to replace it) ..... and I said to Kaylia .... "See the round button?  Press the bottom of the button." .... she walked over and just did it!   This is really amazing stuff.  Not long ago we would battle just to get her attention ... let alone understand that instruction ... and then follow the instruction.  Now we can relate with her on a normal basis.  This is amazing progress and incredibly rewarding!

I think the "self-accumulation" of knowledge .... a stage that was reached January 2012 ..... the accumulated knowledge has reached a point where she is able to function in a relatively normal fashion.  The biggest problem we face now is US!  We've become so accustomed to her methods of communication and her speech ... that we accept it and we don't insist on the much higher level that she is capable of.  We need to get her to a point where she uses the same skills in general life that she demonstrates in therapy sessions.

#757 Tuesday 10 December

The class Christmas party at school today.  Kaylia was very happy to have three of us there .... Lara, Chris and me. She "claimed" each of us alternately. 

I have seen each her class mates for many years now .... some since kindergarten ...... and it was good to see how much Kaylia has progressed.

#756 Monday 9 December

9 days to go and "holiday" is a frequent topic.  It's good though as it's making lots of practice for conversation and the concept of a future event .... she still has a lot of trouble with this.  Time has no meaning unless she can see the seconds counting down.

This afternoon it's therapy and she's really firing!  The answers are snapping out.  What a far cry from previous times when she struggled to think.

#755 Sunday 8 December

Ah..... 8am sleep in .... with each to their own iThing .... Kaylia has re-discovered "Barney" .... much to our regret.

She is really harping on "holiday" at present.  In some ways it's progress as she is wanting to talk about it .... she's not actually not demanding .... but she is still learning to use different words and different tone of voice..... so the process is still quite wearing on us.

After the exertions yesterday I'm quite achey ..... Oh for the days of yore!

2pm .... at Macdonalds playground

On the way here I saw a girl about Kaylia's age standing at the side of the road waiting to cross .... and I wondered how many years it will be till Kaylia can even be out on her own - let alone crossing a busy road.

On the bright side..... the "battle of the scales" had a win this morning.  In the past month, Kaylia's weight has gone down 1.5kg!  This is a very good thing .... it shows that the current medication regime and exercise (swimming after school) is worthwhile.