#1627 Saturday 19 August

It's 7:20am and she's in the bath. 
Last night it was clear that the roasting she had received at school was still on her mind .... so both Naomi and I spent time reinforcing that she had done naughty things..... but she is still our special girl. 

While I write, there's a magpie outside the window singing away. 

11am  We've been out for shopping and Kaylia has had her second bath for the day.  She's now upstairs for a while till we go out again.

Aupairs ... last night we re-posted our ad on the backpacker site and there's been one response already.  Hopefully we will find a good'un again.  

The current situation is wearing both of us down .... and with my medication issues, it is getting to be literally  dangerous.  I take a medicine for pain and I found yesterday when I went to a higher dose .... that the sleepiness increased also!  So my sleepiness problems are a side effect of the medicine .... not a diabetes issue as I had thought.  I have immediately stopped the medicine and made an appointment with the GP to try and find an alternative.  I will just have to somehow live with the pain till we work out what to do.

Evening

Tonight Kaylia was in fine form at storytelling time........ and she recited the whole of "Green sheep"! 

#1626 Friday 18 August

Oh dear.... Kaylia has been naughty today at school..... she was twice caught doing an unacceptable behaviour.  She was isolated and given a stern "talking to" by the staff.....  on the drive home she clearly knew...... I could hear her saying "naughty.... naughty".  I tried to confirm her place in our affection and our family....while reminding her that her behaviour was very bad...... but Gee it's hard when dealing with her level of understanding and communication.

#1625 Thursday 17 August

Gee, things are getting worse.... It's 4am and I've just heard Kaylia....in a calm but loud voice..... say "Daddy".  So up I gets out of bed and aah troddles downstairs..... but she's fast asleep! .... and her iPhone is still on charge!    I must have been dreaming.  .... and I remember hearing her run out of her room to get her iPhone at 2am.... I remember looking at the clock to see the time and thinking that I'd leave her to it.....   but I must have dreamed that too because her iPhone is still sitting on the charger!

#1624 Wednesday 16 August

Good day

That's Kaylia's comment as she gets in the car after school.

She's happy.

#1623 Tuesday 15 August

I had a lovely message today fro Anne-Marie (Jul-Dec 2007) ... the message was about birthdays and their current and future plans ..... but she says  "..... I still love reading the blog on kaylee, makes me feel like I am still part of the family! "     Strange how several people should say similar things in the past few days..... I have been feeling quite despondent about the blog .... feeling that I have no idea if anyone reads it ... is it worth the effort?    ......  and then to get these affirmations!  Thankyou.  I think that's 4 people that spring to mind that say they read it... so the proper number is going to be much more.

I was speaking to a person with a degree in English .... I must say I wondered just what use that degree would be in the real world .... anyway .... when I told them that I wrote a blog that had been going for over 10 years, they were very impressed.

Now ... the important stuff .... what is Kaylia up to and what is happening in her world?  I was asked Where did u go for your birthday meal? And did Naomi get you cheescake?  ....... the birthday meal was Turkish pide at home with Vianetta for afters .... not cheesecake (sigh)

More to come ... I must go to school to collect Kaylia

4:40pm....   we're having flop time on the bed upstairs.... Kaylia with her iPhone watching the wiggles..... and droning away. Every now and then it's "I like school" or some such.... and I try to pounce on the loop.  Naomi is down the hill working.  With no aupairs, she does the day of work and then cleans the two offices. It makes a long day.  I hope we find a new aupair soon.

6pm  I must be losing my ability to count ..... I have numbered each post and you can see that it is up to 1,623 posts ..... yet Mr Google says that there are 2,105 published posts ..... and 79,000 views! ..... I wonder where the extra 482 posts are ... and what do the missing posts say!
Kaylia and I have just returned from Swanview .... getting Subway for tea.  Neither  Naomi nor I can face the prospect of cooking for three these days ... so we buy in.  We have to either find our new family member (aupair) ... or adjust our thinking so we can cook ..... or resign ourselves to accept the new lifestyle.  My record keeping shows me that the change has not had any bad effect on our living costs .... so it's just a matter of whether it is a healthy lifestyle.

#1622 Monday 14 August

Thanks for all the birthday messages ... there were lots!  I've now been formally retired for a year .... still working hard .... just no pay for the work LOL!   Today has been fairly chaotic with several IT problems.

The day has been very wet ..... so wet that the stream that flows through our place is flowing for the first time since 2004!  It's too wet to go outside and admire it.

Kaylia has a new stim ..... she holds her hand over her face and mouth and sort of fake sneezes.   Once again we are clamping down on it before it gets firmly established.  Stims can be a real problem if they are the wrong sort.  This current one is fairly harmless ... just annoying.

Tonight she took herself off to her room straight after tea .... and a bit of pain type noise followed .... so I dosed her appropriately and now she is crooning away very happily.

1621 Sunday 13 August

Sleep in ..... then down to meet Maxine & Colin for a birthday lunch.  Yum!

1:30pm Now we're back at home and Kaylia is in the bath again.

The wild weather has not 'fronted' (pardon the pun) and today is a balmy 18 degrees outside.

3pm  She is still in the bath .... and she is VERY happy.  I hope that she misses the moody teenage years .... it's quite possible that she will.

Stop Press!
Kaylia has just received an email in her personal email address ..... I tried to interest her but she doesn't grasp the concept yet.  She remembered Hannah and Callum .... but could connect the memory with the email.

Anyway ... well done H+C ... I hope you don't mind me inserting your email into the blog!
==================================================

Hello Kaylia

It is Hannah & Callum here (the troublesome two)...see picture above.

You have grown up so much since we last saw you! You look like you would be taller than Callum...and you have also got the hang of smiling at the camera!

We regularly read your blog and we are so glad to see you still LOVE school. You have made some good and yet unusual things at school, my favourite being the collection of painted stones of a dog, a whale, a monkey and a bird! And as for that letter of commendation "Kaylia consistently works to the best of her ability and is a kind and cooperative class member".. this is great!

We have seen that your recent au pairs have gone off on their travels...I hope you find a new au pair soon (who bakes just as well I hope!) so that your daddy can have a rest. Can you wish daddy a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY from us please, I hope he has a well deserved relaxing day. Has daddy got any more projects in the pipeline? What is this about moving our beloved bungalow

As for mummy, can you tell her congratulations on her thesis...7 years of hard study has paid off! She really deserves it after all the long hours of work as well as looking after her own business, this is quite remarkable. What happens now? Is there more study? And how is the business getting on??

We really hope to come back one day, but in the meantime keep posting on your blog as we love hearing what you get up to, even if it does sadden us to see how much you are growing up these days. 

We miss your big snuggly cuddles and your happiness towards anything and everything.

Lots and lots of love,

Hannah & Camaaam   xxxxx
==================================================
There!  Wasn't that good?  One day Kaylia will understand.