11am at Dome......
It's been a busy day..... pay day for the business. It's always hard work but especially so when your mind has to switch between this task and looking after Kaylia.
She is currently mad about a song by Pink.... "Beautiful Trauma". I bought a copy today and she's rapt! She listens to it over... and over..... and over.
At times, I hear comments about how terrible ebay is..... yet today I went looking for a replacement part for a big bench grinder. The local suppliers reaction was "Sorry.... the supply of those has dried up. We can't get them." So I went onto ebay and found the part very easily .....
Kaylia has had time at Lake Leschanaultia today..... then shopping..... 2 lots of bath time.... and now she's in the shower! Shower for her means sitting on the floor under a tiny trickle..... watching the trickle fall. It's a wonderful stim for her.
It's been a good day for her.
We're back home.... Kaylia really enjoyed her time at Busselton and she can tell me about it quite well. I think she is really enjoying having nonstop mummy time.
But the constant refrain is "school on Monday"..... and I reply "school in 4 weeks".
Boxing day.... Relaxing
One of the sad things with Kaylia is that she often repeats things that have been said to her.... Often these are positive things.... but every now and then she spouts something that's not very nice.... We know that this is probably something that has been said to her.... we can't tell how it makes her feel.... we can't do anything about it. It's sad.
The friendly staff at the Sebel kindly brought us another bedside clock for Kaylia's room ..... and she stayed in bed! She didn't get up till nearly 7am.
Since then we've been in the pool ... I was musing about how we would tell that Kaylia was ready to go to the pool on her own...... and I was put right.... her lack of social behaviour means that she will probably always need someone to guide her interaction with other children and adults.
It's 10:30am now. Soon we will head off to a place nearby in Vasse to meet up with Mim and Steve for lunch.
4pm lunch was pleasant.... at a very small restaurant in a restored stone original farm cottage.
I've just come in from the car.... about 70 metres from our room..... Kaylia's happy noises were clearly audible round about!
The constant refrain of "school on Monday" has now morphed into "Christmas on Monday" .... and we're drilling her on the morning routine... that she can stay in bed!
A problem.... that has demonstrated that Kaylia is reading time! Her bedroom at this place doesn't have a bedside clock.... and this morning she was up at 4:30am! Normally she is up at 6:30am on the dot.... so this says to me that she is regulating her habits by the time shown on the clock. So the goal for today is to make sure that she has a clock tonight.
This morning we're doing an op shop tour.... the op shops in Busselton are really enjoyable.
It's time for a teensy weensy rant..... there are several design issues with the place we stay at..... one thing is the design of the chairs at the table.... the table is high.... and so are the chairs. But the chairs have no foot rest! So.... a visit to Bunnings.... a bit of timber and a couple of clamps.... Hey presto I'm comfortable.
Today she is at Bilgoman Pool.
There's an article in the news about how to deal with tantrums and melt-down..... it took me back to the bad old days.... but the article didn't mention ASD type behaviours.... a bit strange I thought.
Evening.... Naomi and I are relaxing.... Kaylia is in her room droning away. The "droning" is a very convenient and comforting thing.... when she is droning we know that she is happy and so we can relax. Every now and then, she adds in a loud screech for good measure! But we can tell from her voice that is a happy screech.
This afternoon we took Teddy to a prospective "dog sitter" .... we need someone to care for him while we're in Busselton. This place is good and I think he will be well cared for.
No action on today with the roof repairs. I was tied up with a meeting for business..... but in my imagination I was planning every move... every screw. The next part is difficult and scary.... I'll be glad when it's done.
3pm.... Naomi has come home with an op shop gimmick for me..... Bali is looking less sensible everyday..... and Kaylia is pushing for it to go on the calendar! We're going to have to make a decision soon so that we have time to get her to accept that we can't go to Bali after all. At least we have an alternative....
Today was business pay day.... It's a full on day for me. If I start work at the normal time I "hit the wall" long before all the processes are completed.... so I get up early. I find that if I start work at 4am, then I can finish the job before I run out of puff. I'll be glad when we can get another person to take over from me.
The repair work on the tree damage is going well. I have now removed all the damaged wire netting and the next step is to relocate the roof (which was over the gym area) ...... and attach it to the roof frame above the spa. 
Phew.... Wot a day.... Banking hacked.... hours at the bank getting it all working again. Life is too complex.
Kaylia of course is oblivious to all these problems.... all that concerns her is the immediate physical sensation that then gives rise to her emotional state.
It's 6:30am and she's still asleep! Yay!
8pm
Today was a school excursions day.... she always gets very excited about these days and today is no different. Today the class went to Kings Park.... this is a place that Kaylia has always loved.
On "the project".... today we removed the roof covering the little patio in front of the room. It mainly consists of a large steel frame.... I didn't want to cut this up.... so we moved it as one piece. I wish we had a photo of this move.... it was quite an event. I hope to re-use this frame later.
The plans for the actual room move are "gelling".... it will probably happen in the next few weeks.
The day began with pancakes..... and a new milestone. When some pancakes arrived on the table, Kaylia reached over and offered a pancake to me! It seems like a little thing but it shows awareness that I was there.... awareness of the social manners..... It was good.
After breakfast it was the usual drive over to see Aunty Maxine.... still without Naomi as her infectiousness is a problem. Till Naomi can shake this chest infection, she has to be careful. Kaylia spent her time at Maxine's in the bath as usual. After that it was home to await the arrival of Andrew and Catriona.... back from their Pilbara adventure.... the adventure had been dampened by car trouble but it had still been memorable in a good way.
3:20am I was woken by a quiet voice..... Kaylia standing on the stairs ..... "Blanket please"..... I go down and find her waiting on her bed..... "Lemonade?"
She accepted water instead and downed the whole container.
After the bed blankets have been re-made, she has now settled again..... Funny thing!
Today she was dead keen to get to school as usual. .... and then I settled into some building time.
Progress report
4 of the posts have been trimmed to the correct height and one of the long beams has been lifted into place. .... it's just clamped for now but you can see how it's going.
A great start to the day as usual ..... Kaylia comes upstairs and jumps into bed and we have a time of cuddles and tickles before shower time.
8pm
After a good school day, she came home and wanted "games"...... this kept her happy till tea time and after tea, it was "bath" ....... she's still in the bath after an hour or so. She sloshes round..... pouring water from one toy to another..... pushing bubbles around..... and singing! She's very happy.
Soon it will be bed time. Naomi badly needs to go to bed but the routine dictates that her own bedtime must wait till Kaylia has had her stories.
Kaylia ended up sleeping well despite mummy being away..... and the morning brought "BILGOMEN"..... she was very keen but when they arrived at the pool, she changed her mind! So a long drive was taken.... York and Northam and back..... and the she was keen to swim.
While all that was going on, I was putting a further two posts in place. Two more to go and then I'll brace the structure. The aim is to have it all ready to move by the end of the month.
Naomi is away tonight.... and Kaylia is not sure how to handle it. Kaylia has been coming out of her room.... then back into her room..... she wanted "stories" and when she realised that mummy wasn't here to do it, she accepted my feeble attempt. Now she's singing away.... but with the door open! She is really missing her mummy.
We noticed yesterday that a family of bobtail lizards had a really good cave just near the entrance bridge. It is secluded and gives the bobtails very good protection from the birds... their main enemy.
Then today I saw Mr and Mrs Bobtail out for a stroll together!
Today A+C are still waiting for their car repairs to be done.... so I made use of the help while it was still available ..... and today we welded two 150 x 75 beams end to end to make one looonngg one. There will be three of these running the length of the building under the floor.
Gardening at school
Nita and Sverrin arrived back from their travels this morning..... Kaylia has just arrived home from school and she seems suitably happy to see them.
We've been hearing the tales of their travels
https://youtu.be/Pf9RI3YvSZ0
Andrew and Catriona head off on their trip tomorrow..... up to the Pilbara first.
This morning I was working at my desk in the corner of the lounge room and I heard a knocking noise at my feet.... it was a bobtail under the desk! He had wandered inside and couldn't find his way out.
The big guns are out .... Kaylia has been given an ultimatum. She has to be a good girl at school ... if she doesn't she will have toast and cheese for tea while we all have fish and chips!!
Stay tuned!
Evening
The verdict from school was that she had behaved..... so she had chicken and chips. This improvement may have been due to the threat of dire punishment.... but it could also be due to the weather! She has always reacted to windy weather.... and it was very windy yesterday. Today the wind had dropped.... maybe that was it. Who knows. Until she can communicate fully, we won't be able to know.
All is well..... we have a happy girl who is rapidly becoming a very assertive teenager. She's not defiant or disobedient.... just the opposite.... but she knows what she wants and she is very clear in letting us know. She spends much of her time in her room..... and she insists that we leave!
But in other ways she is still the same..... still
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..... Oops! It's 6:30am and we forgot to put the bins out! I've just raced out to drag them up to the street while the rubbish truck was coming up the hill ..... I just made it in time.
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News for Chris and others..... the task of moving the bungalow is progressing..... the area has now been cleared and I'm beginning to construct the new foundation.
Bilgomen pool opens today! Kaylia has been counting the days. It's noon and she has been there for a couple of hours.
I've begun dismantling the covered area between the bungalow and the house.... in preparation for moving the bungalow about 3 metres sideways. This task needs to be done soon before I run out of "puff" so I hope to get it done this summer.
There's a series of articles in the media currently that are bashing the NDIS.... and it has me puzzled because people are saying that they are worse off under NDIS. This is not our experience. Pre-NDIS we received no assistance whatsoever for Kaylia.... now we can have a fully funded program of therapy for her! I really wonder who is advising the parents who are complaining.
Kaylia's mouth ulcers are finally clearing up and she is much happier.
It's been another strange day.... she is very happy and she's in her room droning away.... but she didn't eat a thing at school! If I could rouse myself, I'd ask school if I could just sit and observe and see what she does during the day..... what does she do when the other kids are eating their lunch? It's rather mysterious.
I don't think that the mouth ulcers are bothering her any more.... they seem to have healed and she is not sensitive any more....
Funny story......
I think I've told you before about how Kaylia will recite her stories but at 5 times the normal speed..... well tonight Naomi realised that Kaylia had been trying to learn the words to one of the bedtime lullabies.... so she employed the "karaoke" technique. Kaylia cooperated well for most of the song.... but finally she had had enough..... and raced through the song at top speed!
I think she is on the mend.... She slept till 9am today and then stayed in bed singing till noon! It's a very good sign. Her mouth still looks a mess but she doesn't seem to be in as much pain. It's now 5pm and she's on her bed droning away. She a lot happier.
It's time for bottling! Beer that is ..... 22 litres of it. I think Kaylia has had a good day.... she's very quiet and we think she might be a little unwell. The only clear way we have to tell is by taking her temperature..... it's a little bit up..... we will have to wait and see.
Kaylia had a good day but she was very tired at tea time and went straight to sleep. She is very concerned about "school Wednesday?" and she wants frequent reassurance.
The news articles about how some children with autism are being treated in NSW schools.... is very disturbing. We can only hope that these cases are uncommon. Once again we are so thankful that Kaylia has such excellent schools and teachers.
Disaster!! In the absence of any advice otherwise, we decided that school must be starting as per the Department of Education website .... ie today. We got to school ..... and there was NO SCHOOL! Poor Kaylia was very disappointed and we have been trying to convince her that there really IS school tomorrow. Poor thing.
..... and this was after the full blown morning routine. Actually it was amazing to see just how well she handled the disappointment.
It's now 8pm and she's in her room singing away. Doctor Daddy is next..... then blue blanket.... and sleep time.
Sunday routine.... sleeping in followed by pancakes..... the drive over the visit Aunty Maxine was spoilt by Naomi having a cold.... infections veto visits..... so we drove to Bindoon instead.
3pm she's in the bath and I'm struggling with the afternoon sleepies.
Kaylia is firmly fixated on school tomorrow.... she cycles through all the things she enjoys.... her friends.... teachers... activities.... over and over...... and when I mention to her that as well as Monday, it will be school on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday!! Her face lights up with joy!
4:30pm she's still in the bath!..... still VERY loud.
Kaylia is rapt with her "feast" of aupair attention.... Andrew and Catriona are from Scotland and they're staying with us for this month while Nita and Sverrin are travelling..... and Kaylia is loving it! I am too! They're both musicians and I'm finally getting to know some Gaelic music.
This afternoon Kaylia had a tough time with a spot of anxiety..... but Naomi worked her magic and Kaylia was soon back to being her cheerful self.
Yesterday was a Friendship Club session.. the final one for these holidays. As usual she loved it. On the way there, we were about 3 suburbs away when she began asking "Friendship Club?".....
Today she will be going to an event at CWBC! It will be good to see how she manages.
Yesterday we had a visit from the builder appointed to repair the storm damage. I am amazed at how fast the repairs are progressing.
Evening : She's been brilliant as usual. The "event" was a bit much for her and we had to cut it short.... but it was still good for her to be involved and to see what the other kids were doing.
She's been on a high all day..... starting with therapy this morning and continueing through the evening. It hasn't helped that she has two new "captive slaves" to enjoy! Catriona and Andrew are from Scotland and are with us for October (while BandS are off travelling.) Today Kaylia was taking full advantage of new tickling fingers.
I'm getting better.... but I'm amazed at just how sick I was on Friday..... I keep learning of things that happened while I was out to the world.
I'm feeling a lot better today... still in a bed worthy condition so I slept till about 3pm when 2 crises occurred which required my attention..... the minor one was that the bath taps couldn't be turned off and needed my tender skills..... and the important one was that Kaylia had inflicted a very painful injury on Naomi! They had been on the bed and in her exuberant fashion Kaylia flung her arm about.... and her elbow connected with Naomi's forehead. It was a strong blow and although it doesn't bother Kaylia, it is very painful for Naomi. This is a fairly regular occurrence for a child that has little awareness of what other people feel.... and a very high personal pain tolerance.
Bonita and Sverrin head off tomorrow on their month long trip to Melbourne and back.... when they will rejoin us. While they are away we're going to have a "fill in" pair to help us survive. I shudder to think of trying to get things done without help.
I've missed a few days.... I've been very sick.... I was shaking so much I couldn't even hold my phone let alone be conscious enough to use it. It's a UTI and it's the worst I've ever had.
Kaylia I think has been oblivious... she usually comes and sits beside me when I'm on the bed.... but not this time. I suspect that she was being occupied well by Nita and Sverrin.... they are gems.
I'll stop now.. It's still too hard to hold the phone.
4pm I'm feeling a bit better now. I've been pondering our wonder child..... how would I be managing if she were a normally developed 13 year old? Probably not well.... she would probably be testing my patience sorely.... whereas our Kaylia is low demand in many ways.... her constant pleasure with our company is a delight for me.
