#1600 Saturday 15 July

It's Saturday12 noon.  I've done 3 loads of washing and cooked "tuna treats" .... yum.

All this while doing about 1.5hrs of office work.

Kaylia has been out with A+A ... she came home very happy and now she's in the bath. 

She is very noisy when she's in the bath.  Lots of yelling and happy noises.  I wouldn't call it screaming because that implies "unhappy"  .... but it's sort of a very happy screaming.  .... at high volume!

Hot news!    For some time I have struggled to persuade the fire to "draw"..... that is to burn well.  I assumed that the flue needed cleaning. So  this afternoon it was a good excuse for a Bunnings trip! Kaylia didn't object of course. For her a Bunnings trip is all about the drive.  She has learnt about putting her iPhone through the car stereo and she currently loves having the volume up.  It's strange that she likes loud music in the car..... but doesn't like her music on the stereo inside the house. 

Anyway..... after the trip I began the flue cleaning task.  The brush kit has 5 metres of handle and I soon found that the handle was about 2 metres too short.... our chimney is very tall!  Fortunately I had begun the process with a pull through rope attached to the brush ..... and we were able to get the brush all the way down the flue.  But all the climbing and lifting was physically hard.... and I'm zonked. 

#1599 Thursday 13 July

Kaylia had another "Friendship Club" afternoon .... and came home very excited.  The staff report that she has made a good friend at the sessions and they spend all the time together giggling.

Now she is worn out now ... in her room having story time with mummy.  She .... always .... always .... tries to bargain to get more stories.

What are they??  She made them today.  We are told that there's a dog, a whale, a monkey, a snail and a bird. 

As usual she is trying to engage us in talk about school.  We had a horrible thought.... what if she didn't like school? That would be really terrible. 

#1598 Wednesday 12 July

It was an OK night.... but only cos I stayed downstairs with her.... it's not the best way but it means that I can retain my sanity and get a reasonable amount of sleep. 
Aunty Flo has arrived for her monthly visit.... So this is an added complication.
This morning I took her for a drive round all the old playground haunts.  She didn't want to stop.... just seeing that they were all still there was enough for her.

#1597 Tuesday 11 July

Kaylia has a full day  ...... therapy from 9 to 11, then at midday, Ashley and Abbie will take her down to Fremantle for Friendship Club.  She will spend the afternoon there and then come home ... arriving at about 6pm.  She will sleep well tonight ... we hope.  Last night was unsettled again.  She went to sleep OK but woke at 4am.  I went down and stayed with her .... but she didn't sleep well after that.

It's now about two and a half weeks till Ash & Abbie head off on their big trip.  They are driving ..... via Albany, Esperance ... over to Port Pirie SA.  Then they will decide whether to head north to Alice Springs .... or south to Adelaide.... ie either clockwise or anticlockwise for the eastern states.

We are currently talking to several potential aupair replacements.

#1596 Monday 10 July

Last night was bad..... she didn't settle ..... so at 9pm,  I went in to persuade her to sleep.   Then she woke again  at 12:30..... So down I go..... she wasn't going to sleep so I stayed down...... she eventually slept...... and at 5am I was woken by being weed on! Sheesh.   Change the sheets and make the bed.... Now it's 9am and she's still asleep.

#1595 Sunday 9 July

One of the interesting things about school these days...  compared with my experience.... is the manual arts.... the work that Kaylia brings home is really quite amazing.  The quality is superb.

This is the latest..... a wooden quoits set. It's neatly made with the parts fitting together well.  The lid has her name written in the plastic. 

All the parts pack away.  It seems far too well constructed for what I know of Kaylia's interest level and her manual dexterity.  I mentioned this to the teachers and I was assured that she did indeed make the item.  I'm intrigued.... How?  I would be proud to lay claim to this work.... how does the teacher do things so that Kaylia can produce this?   It's clearly a conundrum to be investigated in the future.