#1651 Saturday 16 September

This morning was Kaylia's sleep-in morning ..... it was 10am before she stirred!  After breakfast we all went to "the tunnel" ......  although we always direct visitors to the spot, I had never been there myself!




Here we are Kaylia ... Sverrin and Nita





Poor Kaylia did NOT want to go on the walk .... she has been many times

The walk is through beautiful country.  As usual I am amazed by the magnitude of the engineering ..... it was constructed at a time when there were no machines .... no bulldozers or scrapers or dump trucks.  It was all moved by hand and horse.  Yet look at the size of this embankment!

Swan View Tunnel was built on an alignment which replaced the original Eastern Railway passing through Smiths Mill, (now Glen Forrest), and Mundaring. The project to build the new line, including the Swan View Tunnel, was managed by the Engineer-in-Chief of the Western Australian Government Railways, C Y O'Connor. Work began in 1894, with the two bores meeting on 18 April 1895. The tunnel opened on 22 February 1896.  The unstable nature of the jointed granite, along with clay seams, caused difficulties during construction of the tunnel. A masonry-lined face prevented rock falls, but reduced the inner diameter.
The tunnel's small diameter combined with the steep gradient (1:49) to cause smoke accumulation. Incidents involving near-asphyxiation of train crews started in 1896, and continued throughout the tunnel's operating life.  The first serious incident of this nature was in 1903.
The tunnel is 13 chains (858 ft, 262m) long.

Garratt steam locomotive



The tunnel's design was incompatible with the ASG class Garratt steam locomotives used by the Western Australian Government Railways in the 1940s. The worst accident in the tunnel was on 5 November 1942, when both drivers and firemen were asphyxiated by carbon monoxide, one driver dying, when a fully laden double-header train passed through the tunnel at walking pace.

The railway line through the tunnel was lifted after the closing of the older and steeper Eastern Railway and the opening of the Avon Valley diversion that opened in February 1966.

 That extract is from Wikipedia.

I had no idea of the existence of the tunnel .... it was operating in my lifetime!  I can clearly remember the construction of the Avon Valley line while I was at high school in Northam 64 to 69.   Note CY O'Connor ... what a brilliant man ....... he has been a key person in WA history.








 Kaylia wanted a drinking straw for her coffee .... and supplies are running low .... so I asked her to put it on the shopping list.

#1650 Thursday 14 September

Recently Kaylia had surprised her teachers and classmates by reciting "Where is the Green Sheep" during a class session.... so the other day I tried recording this.  I did this at the usual story time.... evening.... to try and make it as normal as possible for her.   This is the result. 

The picture is black because it's recorded in the dark.  She raced through the story .... she does it much better if she is telling the story with mummy.

Notice the "I like Bali" at the start? .... that's the 'looping' we are trying to deal with at present.  Imagine the loop going over and over every few minutes for hours !!  


Later:  Kaylia had a sports carnival at school today and was sent home at midday because she was upset.  Her 'upset' has continued this afternoon and it has taken a car drive and a bath to calm her down.  Oh how I wish she had a screen where we could get a read out of just what was upsetting her.

#1649 Tuesday 12 September

As Kaylia was heading off to school this morning, she was 'prompted' to say bye to Mum and Dad ..... she gave a cursory token wave while she kept her attention on her iPhone as she searched for music.  This is funny in several ways ... it's typical teenager behaviour .... and typical auty behaviour too.

Then I saw a FB post about ABA .... written by a trained person (American) who is very upset by what she understands of ABA.  Now keep in mind that our experience of  ABA therapy has been extremely positive .... I shudder to think what Kaylia would be like today if we hadn't gone down that road.   For this person however, the experience has been very bad and her article has made me ponder the differences in experience.

Most of the scenarios that she wrote about were ones that are common to parents of a child with autism .... and her reaction to the methods .... that we have used ... and that we know work ...... leave me very puzzled.

I have the feeling that she is "throwing the baby out with the bath water"!

Many of the methods that parents use would clearly be 'verboten' for this person ....

I remember situations with Kaylia in which we reacted in a certain way to protect her ... and if we had not, Kaylia might not be here today ........ yet according to this person, we did "terrible things"!  ..... (shades of Trump!)


Later:  I've been looking back over the  recent posts and I noticed that the post on Tuesday 5th (about her new brace) attracted a huge number of 'views' ... 5 times the usual number .... I wonder why?  One person commented that the new brace was better looking than the old .... the colour and pattern were Kaylia's choice!!
The new brace has some 'teething problems' though .... the straps are too short so it is difficult to do up  .... and it is rubbing on a spot on her hip.  We are giving her the choice of which brace is used and she changes from day to day.





This evening she REALLY enjoyed her bath!  It was a veritable mountain of bubbles.

#1648 Sunday 10 September

Ah.... the routine......

After "pancakes for breakfast" it was off in the car for a drive to Fremantle E shed.  On the way back, Kaylia had a long 'sour sweet' rope... and all the way home she would take a bite and then tell us how she liked it!  ....... and she kept this up for ages! ..

Arriving home she was in full voice.... very happy and very loud!  It's not that long ago that she wouldn't talk at all.

Evening: After story time ...... I managed to record two more of the Kaylia/Mummy stories. This is one of them   .... Three Little Pigs!