#1196 Thursday 30 July

The hyper silly giggling seems to be back under control ..... the dose of Risperdal has been increased by 0.25ml per day.  It's amazing that such a minute change can make a difference like that.

..... and the media has started another beat up of how terrible it is that these drugs are being prescribed for young children!  No one ever writes about the other side of the story ..... about how wonderful it is that the drugs can allow our children to lead a much happier life .... that we can have a tool to control the debilitating anxiety attacks and the meltdowns. Yes it's a trade off where we have some undesirable side effects..... but I'll take the side effects over the original symptoms any day!

#1195 still Monday

Today was Kaylia's dentist visit ...... she loved it! She still has some baby teeth to fall out ..... if they don't come out themselves by the end of the year, they will need to be removed.

Afterward Callum and Hannah took her to the playground ..... she was very happy on a thingy that she had to use her hands to hold on ..... so she couldn't flap her hands!! ..... so she flapped her feet instead!

#1194 Monday 27 July

It's 2am and Naomi's father has just died.   He was a fan of Slim Dusty and Johnny Cash ...... so .....

It's a lonesome away

From your kindred we know

We'll remember you well

For the warmth of your love.

Say hello to our Mum

When you're with her again

We'll be happy our Dad

And our Mum are one.

#1193 Sunday 26 July

Naomi is at the hospital tonight .... her father is hanging on and the family is keeping vigil.

While Naomi is away the rest of us have done our best to duplicate her delicious pizzas.  The result was pretty good!  It looks a bit strange but it tasted good.

Tonight after tea I heard Kaylia practicing one of Naomi's common expressions ..... unfortunately it's a saying that would be written    $&@:-:">£€     .... not good!  We'll have to revise some speech!

#1192 Friday 24 July

Happy Birthday Colin!

Today .... with Callum's help .... we maneuvered the spa up onto the completed support structure!  It's looking good. 

 Next step is to construct the decking around the spa ..... and then work on the plumbing and build a water heater.  It won't be completed in the near future but I hope to get it to a stage where Kaylia can enjoy it before summer.

Kaylia is becoming too excitable .... it's interfering with school now.   We'll need to look at her medications again to see if we can improve things.

#1191 Thursday 23 July

Talk about things coming in threes!! First I had my argument with the angle grinder ...... then we found out that a close friend had been in a bad car smash ..... then we found out that Naomi's elderly father is dying in the immediate future.  It makes it hard to maintain a stable home environment so that Kaylia can handle it all.

The transition to sleeping downstairs is evolving.   We've found that she doesn't like it when I do the 'settling phase' ..... So now I do bedtime preparation .... then Naomi does the settling ..... I then take over for the bedtime to toilet time (11pm).   She goes back sleep easily after that and I can go upstairs to my bed!   Kaylia will then sleep through the to the morning.

Today?   We will see.   

#1190 Monday 20 July

The transition  to Kaylia sleeping in her own room is going well - 3 down.  She doesn't like it.  She took ages to settle last night.   Persistence will win .... we hope!

Yesterday we went for a drive to Bindoon and returned through the Chittering Valley .... very pretty country.  The drive was because Aunty Mim was not home ..... so we have to find a suitable replacement activity.

3pm. Naomi and I are sitting in the emergency at Swan Hospital ..... Waiting for someone to sew me up!   I was cutting some steel with a big angle grinder and it slipped .... no serious damage but there's a chunk of flesh about 3cm long and 1cm deep been cut out of my arm.  It missed all the tendons etc so it's just a nuisance.

I'm home again now ..... with 6 stitches in my arm!