#854 Saturday 29 March

This morning Lara is off and Chris is filling in ..... we've had a good time talking building and house stuff while Kaylia frolics in the water outside.  I can see her through the window ... squirting the hose around.  It's amazing how she's not bothered by the cold water!  She's been there for 2 hours and she is still very happy.

I was showing Chris the photos of the house from 10 years ago .... with all his hard work to paint the house, he can really appreciate the difference.   .... and from the house, we got onto travel ... and from there to the Kimberleys and the desert

.... and from there my mind wandered to Marie and Jacomo and how we went exploring the Canning Stock Route in 1977 .... so I have used Google Maps and Google Earth to retrace that trip through the desert.  I haven't been in contact with Jacomo for years ... so I tracked him down and we spoke on the phone.

 The red marker at the left shows where it was .... the track at the right is the sort of country ... except that there were no tracks for much of it.

The photo to the right is the Wolfe Creek crater  ... it's about 1-2kms across ..... a strange and mysterious place not far from Balgo.

#853 Friday 28 March

WB .... Last night I slept well for a change ... and so Kaylia slept too ... and the bed was wet.

Yesterday I was musing about our wonderful little girl ... she's not so "little" in the physical sense .... but her behaviors are those of a little girl.  She's a mixture of "developmental ages" ... in some areas she might be only one or two years delayed ... and in other areas she might be four to six years delayed.  It means that we missed having a 5 year old when she was 5 .... but we have one now!  Of course it also means that when she is a teenager, we may have a breathing space without the "teenage terrors".  There are so many things about Kaylia which are not "normal" .... and we have to assess each aspect to work out the best way to handle it.

#852 Wednesday 26 March

Happy Birthday Maxine!

Now .... since mr rabbit has changed the quality of Australians with a swipe of his pen .... this blog is brought to you by the Rt Hon Sir Ian ... Knight of the Order Subway. 

Kaylia was very keen to get on the road to school this morning ... and she seems to have worked out her idea about who is "Boss" .... she was demanding that Chris do "GOOL" today ... not Lara who actually takes her to school.  Kaylia seems to think that asking Chris will get a result!

#851 Tuesday 25 March

Last night after we had finished tea, we adults were sitting round the table  .... having a normal adult type discussion of things .... world events, opinions etc ..... and it struck me that it is a huge improvement for us to be able to do this.   While we were talking, Kaylia was just playing in the lounge-room .... and occasionally coming over to check on what we were doing.  She was happy and calm.  What a change from the old days.

Her previous pattern was that her anxiety would mean that she had to move onto the next thing in her routine .... a drive .... or bedtime ..... it always meant that we were under pressure to manage her anxiety.  Failure to manage the anxiety would result in rising tension to avoid a melt-down.

The fact that Naomi and I can relax at times like this means that we are enjoying our time with Chris and Lara in a very different way to our times with previous au-pairs.  Chris and Lara will head off on their round Australia trip in a month's time .... we will miss them.

Of course it also means that Kathi will be with us in one month's time ..... and it's 4 weekends till we head off to Wave Rock again!  I've just checked ... the water level in the salt water pool is low (because of the lack of rain) but still swimable .... so Kaylia will be happy.

This is the pool in it's proper state .... we've never seen it this good!


This is the same pool in March 2013 ...... at the moment it has even less water in it .... and it is therefore much more salty!

Kaylia is "in session" with therapy as I write ..... and she is having a tea party with imaginary friends!!  This is amazing progress.  The next goal will be for her to do this in her own time .... unprompted ....

#850 Monday 24 March

It's been a memorable weekend.  Naomi had an important assignment due today so she was working hard .... Kaylia had a good time with Lara and Chris on Saturday and then with me on Sunday.

Naomi was able to finish the assignment on time  ....

Meanwhile Chris has been making great progress on the house .....

                 


                                It looks very different!