#1213 Saturday 29 August

Amazing child!   She's in the outside bath ..... cold water ..... the wind is howling ..... I've got a jumper on because I'm cold ...... and she's singing away in the cold bath!!!

#1212 Friday 28 August

The spa is operational!   Kaylia doesn't know yet .... and I'm waiting till Naomi gets home so we can see her face when she sees the spa for the first time.

#1211 Thursday 27 August

She's in the shower at 8pm ..... just a dribble of lukewarm water for ages..... and she's singing song after song .... I've been quite surprised by the range of songs she knows.

After shower time we have the bedtime routine.  The routine is quite rigid ..... I can vary the sequence a little .... but not much!   Tonight I gave her the nightly medicine while she was still in the shower .... that was tolerable but all the stages of the routine must be followed or we have problems.

Yesterday Callum and I saw a magnificent sunset while driving down to Midland.

#1210 Tuesday 25 August

Next week Kaylia has a "dress up day" at school ..... she's sposed to go as the cartoon character 'Mrs Giggles' ...... how appropriate!  Last night at bed time she had a bad case of the giggles and it was hard work to manage her down..... we get her to concentrate on her breathing and this controls it for a few minutes till she starts again.  The breathing exercise continues till she falls asleep.  The problem is that she stims off the giggling.

Regardless of this, she's a truly delightful child and we're so fortunate.  Despite .... or maybe because of .... her developmental delay, she is very pleasant to have around .... most of the time.  Of course the delay means that we will probably have her teenage tantrums when she's in her mid 20's!  We just hope that her communication ability has progressed enough by then.

#1209 Sunday 23 August

Yesterday Hannah took Kaylia to "Circus Quirkus" ...... and she loved it!  She sat enthralled throughout the 90minute performance.   This is wonderful progress .... a few years ago I attempted the same feat and Kaylia couldn't even get in the theatre door.

Today was pancakes, then Aunty Moo and then Aunty Max.   The day's routine is very rigid .... Kaylia controls it!  The visits follow a pattern and then Kaylia puts her shoes on and says "Bye" ..... and we're off!

She's still fixated on the calendar and what is to come ..... school ...... holiday ..... she wants to talk about things but it comes out as nagging and it's very wearing for us.