#1483 Saturday 17 February

Nàomi repainted the laundry today .... So it has been a full on day to do this while at the same time maintaining the normal routine ..... but we did it.  Kaylia insisted on the routine.

Everyone is tired tonight.  Ellie's sister Alex arrives around midnight and the three of them will be heading off on their long trip on Monday.

Ashley and Abbie arrive tomorrow.

#1482 Friday 17 February

I was recently alerted to a supplement called Lyprinol .... Naomi has looked at the research and it shows that it may be beneficial for children with ADHD ..... ergo it may also have benefits for children with autism.  Interesting.

It's the last day that Joe and Ellie take Kaylia to school.

Later:  the opinion of the specialist is that the supplement may work as long as you don't actually have ADHD or autism .... ie it's a scam.   We live in a sad world when we can't trust "research" to be truthful in day to day terms ... the research may present facts .... but the facts are twisted to suit a particular aim.

#1481 Thursday 16 February

Much better today thanks!!! The fever broke at 3am and I was literally bathed in sweat ... a wet bed for me instead of Kaylia!

It's now 3:45 and she's home from school .... a bit upset .... so she's had a tummy filler and she's happier already.

My philosophical thought for today?  Fear is largely from our imagination.  If we cannot imagine anything, it's difficult to experience fear.  So fear may not be one of Kaylia's problems in her life.  I'll need to test that idea.

#1480 Wednesday 15 February

Kaylia is happy as usual ..... she's a very cheerful personality and in the absence of bad triggers such as pain .... or change in routine .... she just chugs along.

I took her to school this morning and while waiting at her room, she didn't want to sit with me on a seat .... she wanted to sit as close to the class room door as she could!  I'd done the morning trip because I had a form to submit at the office .... as we arrived, I had a leg cramp while getting out of the car ..... then I had a diarrhoea attack while waiting .... and another cramp when I got home!  Not good.  I have an appointment with the doctor to try to fix it all.

1pm .... Back from the doctor's ..... The verdict is a UTI.  I don't care as long as it stops.

#1479 Tuesday 14 February

I know this is Kaylia's story .... but I can't help it.... it's 7:50pm and I'm coming out of a really bad leg cramp.  I haven't had any cramp trouble at all for a couple of years .... and then WHAM! It was ghastly!  And smack bang in the middle of it, I get an urgent need to wee ...... so I have to hobble to the bathroom crying from the pain.   The pain subsided after that and I'm upstairs now .... applying every remedy possible.  Magnesium tablets, magnesium cream, heat packs, Fisio cream, Tiger Balm.

My daily regimin of magnesium has worked well for a long time.... but it failed tonight.

Of course Kaylia's oblivious to what is happening to me ..... and there's no way to explain. It makes me wonder what she will do when I die ..... she will be annoyed that I'm not there to be part of the routine ..... and she will miss me in a general way ..... but there will be no understanding.

#1478 Monday 13 February

Kaylia was raring to go to school as usual.  Last night she was outright refusing to sleep ..... she just wanted to talk about school and it was around 11 before she slept.

Today I have had a morning in the shed .... the project is "complete" after my fashion.  I never have a tradesman like finish .... but it's always functional. By the time I reach the end of a project I'm too tired to see the rough edges .... so I leave them.

Because I use recycled materials, the project is always cheap.  This one is costing zero $.

2:30pm. I've just been woken from my ol codger nap by another spam phone call ..... the spam calls have removed my inherent need to be polite .... it used to be that I would not end a phone call till the conclusion was mutually agreed .... no longer!  As soon as the abhorrent reason for the call is clear I just say "Not interested - bye" and hang up.  Rude but satisfying .... we can't stop these infuriating calls .... so rudeness is our only weapon.

Our visitors from Europe tell me that spam is not a problem there .... as a spam call is a serious offence and it is punished by the authorities.  Why not here?

5:40pm. At 5pm, the "hungries" hit her ..... and it was all hands on deck to shovel food into her!  She wasn't all that keen on what had been cooked for tea so I could tell that she was still hungry after a serve.  So we suggested that she have a bath ..... quickly acted on..... and I prepared a one egg milkshake that she could have while in the bath.   This went down well and now she's happy again.

#1477 Sunday 12 February

It's Pete's 70th birthday today .... Happy birthday!

We're sleeping in on Sunday morn ....  Kaylia is in the middle and doing her wriggle thing. She just can't stay still.

Today will be "the routine" ..... over to visit Aunty Maxine ..... then lunch at Oportos ..... then the op shop before heading home.  I usually get a reward of an hour in the shed before tea time.

The current shed project is a hydraulic press ... it's largely complete but just tacked together. Soon I will do the final welds. 

Evening
I'm worn out after my "reward" time in the shed.  So I'm flopped on the bed with Kaylia.  We've been doing language work..... she tries very hard but each time she has forgotten most of what we had practiced before ..... and we have start again.