Friday, December 25, 2015

#1233 Friday 25 December 2015

Happy Christmas!  We had a beaut morning ..... Kaylia really "gets" gifts and presents now and she was very excited.  The beach is calm but cold ..... greeting phones calls to France and Brazil have been made ......

The text following is the Christmas letter sent out this year ..... so excuse me if you have already read it!


Kaylia had her last day of primary school  last week!  Next month  she will turn 12 and she'll be at high school in 2016.  We're confident that this will go well ... she's had 6 transition sessions in the past month and she loved it.  All round, she is just so happy at present..... I wish all of you that knew her in the early days could see her now .... it's a wonderful difference. 

She still  has occasional 'attacks'  .... but we (she and us) are much better at handling them now and life is much more pleasant. She is increasingly verbal ...... she can say lots if she has to!  We must remember not to allow her to  use single words ..... she has us trained well to respond to single word requests .... and to anticipate her needs ..... this means that she doesn't need to speak .... so she doesn't!!




The year had some down times ..... Naomi's father died  in  in the latter part of the year .  It's something that happens to us all and it's always a hard time.


In 2015 our aupairs were Hannah & Callum  from the UK and now  we have Camilla and Maicon from France.   Hannah & Callum  departed last month amid a sad farewell ... and they are now travelling down the east coast .  They will be in Sydney for Christmas then over to NZ before heading back to UK.


Naomi's practice continues to grow .....the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme  in Midland has meant much more demand for services ..... parents can now afford more of the services that their child needs.  The practice now has 26 staff so it's pretty full-on!  The practice is almost unique in Perth ..... it only works with children & adolescents .... and it has speech, OT and psych services in the one facility. Ian ceased  working for external clients in November and  can now concentrate on our business .... when the projects around the house permit!!.  He is finding that age is making professional life very difficult ...... so "winding back" has greatly reduced the stress levels.
 


The latest house projects have been a "grey water system" .... so that we reduce the amount of water being wasted ...... and a spa that is built into an extension of the balcony (on the 'bungalow' side of the house)  ..... both projects are nearing completion and they have largely been built using either free and recycled materials - including the spa!  The spa is plumbed into the grey water system so that water from the spa is recycled into the garden.  This year a small tractor was bought to replace the Kanga Loader which was sold a few years ago.  It makes large projects possible and feels like the 'old days' on the farm!


This year we are again having a break at Yanchep over Christmas .... it's Christmas Eve as I write ..... and this will be followed by a few days at Cervantes from Boxing Day to New Year's eve.  Today Kaylia has already been swimming .... and aborted because of the windy conditions.  The 'lagoon' at Yanchep has a reef that protects the swimming area to the south and west .... the waves come over the reef and then flow to the north where the water can escape.  This results in a strong current across the swimming area .... I watched this morning and estimated the current to be flowing at 10-20 kph!
 


We - Ian, Naomi, Kaylia and Teddy - wish you a Happy Christmas and we hope your new year will be a good one!

No comments:

Post a Comment