#902 Saturday 24 May

Teddy is much better.  He's moving freely ... it seems to have been shock rather than injury.

School reports that Kaylia was very good yesterday.  It may be that the effect of the increased dose of Risperdal is showing.
At the meeting on Monday, I had told the teacher to "expect an improvement on Friday" .... e voila!

Afternoon at the quarry ....

Evening:  Naomi and I are actually going to have a night out!  First time in ages ... supa-dupa adult club tickets thanks to frequent flyers! (Thanks Kat). We're seeing X-Men.

#901 Thursday 22 May

Kaylia has many very endearing habits .... most of you have already experienced her charms ..... but some new ones are developing!  You may not know ... but one of the characteristics of autism is the child's inability to be aware of other people.  This is why they fail to learn ... because they lack the skills of "mimic".   As Kaylia is developing, she has developed in this area.  She now mimics Naomi very strongly .... in story time, she copies Naomi's gestures ...... and last night while Kaylia was dozing ... almost asleep. ... Naomi coughed .... so Kaylia coughs too!   We've seen her do this when she's awake .... but in that situation it was hilarious.




... and she loves being told that "she's a good girl" .... during cuddle time this morning I was telling her this .... and her face was simply glowing with happiness.

Tea-time:  Kat had taken Teddy for a walk this afternoon .... and Teddy was attacked by a large black Rottweiler!  Fortunately Teddy is just bruised and very  sorry for himself.  Poor thing.  Teddy was completely innocent (for a change!) 

#900 Wednesday 21 May

She slept last night.  It took a while for her to settle because she was over-tired .... but she slept well eventually.   So did I!

A bloggable moment from last night ..... that illustrates her (lack of) empathy and tactile sensitivity.   I have mild arthritis in most of my toe joints ..... and it can be very painful when Kaylia plonks her feet and legs on my toes.  She does this quite a bit when she's wriggling round in bed. So last night I explained to her that it hurts when she does this .... and she needs to be gentle. ...... and it worked!  There was a clear change in her movements.   Let's see how well she remembers in future.

Some of the things she does with her legs and feet must hurt her too .... but she doesn't seem to feel it.  }#%%% autism.

Evening:  Kaylia and I were on our own for tea tonight .... so were to Nandos as a treat.  Might be the last time though ... the prices have really gone up.  I think Nandos have priced themselves too high for us.

#899 Tuesday 20 May

Oooo wot a night!  I think she's been awake since about 1am.  She's twitching and scritching .... Oh boy oh boy .

At breakfast time, she was "spinning her wheels" .... "Come on Kat! ... school" ..... Wow!

Afternoon:  I'm feeling the effect of last night .... depressed about Kaylia .... at times like this it's very hard to feel optimistic about her future.

I really feel for those parents who are going through the same rough times but without the emotional support of their partner  ..... it's worth all the hard work that Naomi and I put into making our relationship strong.  It would be incredibly hard to have an "auty one" as a single parent.

#898 Monday 19 May

We've just come from a meeting at school .... discussing a perceived change  in behaviour lately.   A couple of funny things came out of the meeting .... firstly that some of the behaviours may be related to a recent therapy activity where she is learning the "play a trick" on the person she's with.  It's possible that she has generalized this to the teacher!  If she is, then it is brilliant that she has done it ..... but we have teach her that tricking is not always the right thing to do.

Secondly .... I've told you how Kaylia is mimicking Naomi's mannerisms ....  she's doing the same thing to the teacher!!!  Hilarious.   But it's good for the teacher to understand what is going on.

#897 Sunday 18 May

The end of the month is coming .... and we'll be able to light up the rubbish piles in the garden.  This is always a fun time.

Today - off to Aunty Moo's and Aunty Maxine's.

When we got home it was hose-time .... then vanilla cupcakes! Yummy.