#1093 Saturday 7 February

During  Kaylia's recent dentist visit it occurred to me that the task of teaching her to clean and floss her teeth would be much easier if the exercise was conducted with Kaylia flat on her back. If her head was tilted down over the end of the bed, then the position is similar to being in the dentist chair. So ..... we now have a game at bedtime .... we play "Dentist"!   She loves it.

Tonight I head off to the villa for a few days ...... workmen will be pouring a new layer of concrete on the roof in an effort to stop the leaks.

#1092 Thursday 5 February

She had a good day yesterday at Bilgoman .... and Shannon has a lake visit planned for today. 

 Last night she changed the pattern of the nagging habit ...... instead of coming to us with the usual "Dr Christie", she just paced the room muttering the words!   From our POV it's an improvement.

#1091 Tuesday 3 February

She's back at school  ..... we all went together to take her for the first day yesterday ..... she sat down at her desk .... then turned to us and said "Goodbye!"  As far as she was concerned, we were not needed.

In the afternoon she had the usual transition problems .... hopefully that will fade after a day or two.

Tonight she did her usual thing of going upstairs around 7pm .... then a bit later she went downstairs again and stood on the stairs asking us to come down again.  She'd decided that we should sit on the couch ..... not be in bed!

#1090 Sunday 1 February

It's been a routine day ..... Kaylia has been quite relaxed and happy.  We went to Aunty Maxine's and Kaylia spent ages just playing.  She's still doing the "Dr Christie" thing but it's changed..... it's more of a request for the story of the visit ..... and the story is a sort of personal validation for her.

Her overall behaviour pattern has changed lately .... she's not wanting to go to the swimming pool and she's quite happy to mooch around at home.  She's looking forward to going back to school tomorrow.

...... but for now?   It's an extended birthday from Friday ..... Naomi's special cheesecake! Yum!

#1089 Saturday 31 January

It's therapy today and we're filling time till we can go down to the office.   We've been playing doctor using Teddy Bear as a patient.   ..... he didn't mind at all!

This morning two kookas settled on the railing outside the bedroom window.....

I can't imagine what he finds tasty about a fig leaf!

Evening

It's been a good day again ..... for some reason she isn't interested in swimming lately.  She spends a lot of time inside and a lot of time in the outside bath ..... and this morning she wanted the playground..... this is at the Darlington playground.

While were there we were amused by a person using a blower on the tennis courts ...... the day was so windy that it would have been a wasted effort!

#1088 Friday 30 January

Happy birthday Kaylia!  She's 11 years old now.   Our birthday routine is to open presents as soon as she's woken up......

This little wooden whirly-gig was also a Christmas present ..... she loved that one to death in a few days ..... then chewed the remains for weeks after!   So here's a new one.

As you know she loves doctors ..... so now she has a "doctors bag" with all the kit!

Then she opened her present from Kerrie..... It went down really well ..... including this gi-normous dingle- dangle ..... so long she has to do it from the stairs!

Tonight we'll have a little party at the Midland icecream shop.

#1087 Thursday 29 January

It's been a messy day ..... the Falcon is in having repairs done so we're sharing cars .... and there was quite a big thunderstorm this morning.  Kaylia and Shannon were at Bilgoman pool and had to leave.  They went onto Bayswater Waves pool .... and that had no power ..... lots of traffic lights were out.

It's Kaylia's 11th birthday tomorrow .... among other things, Naomi has found her a "doctor's kit" (toy) ..... highly appropriate ..... should be a lot of fun.

9pm

It's bedtime and she's just told me that her finger was "itchy" .... not very concerned.... just told me.   When I looked I saw that she had been picking at a finger nail and torn about a third of the nail off .... with the quick exposed.   For you or I that would be very painful .... for her it's mildly curious.  It shows the problems of her high pain tolerance.