#2209 Saturday 5th August

 After the trip to Metricup last weekend, Kaylia is now going full steam on the next item on her calendar ..... Daddy's Birthday!!  The response is that this is coming in 9 days time ..... or it will be not next week but the week after.  The next thing after this birthday is going to be the trip to Albany in October.  This "story" is a nightly one at bedtime.

Today is op shop at Ellenbrook in the morning .... and then op shops in Midland in the afternoon.  So anothe 20 or so DVDs are added to her great pile!  (I load some of these into bags every now and then ... so that the pile doesn't reach "critical mass" when they all come crashing down.  Kaylia's response to this event is "UH OH!!"

#2208 Wednesday 26th July

 Communication is a continual learning process .....  for instance .... Kaylia has very frequent expression of "calming down!" .  We have assumed that she says this because she's upset and managing to calm herself.  Yesterday I explored this with her (by carefully structured questions) ... and apparently she says "calming down" because our automatic response is to say "Good girl!" ..... and she likes to be praised!  Knowing this makes our response all the more important.

On Friday we will head off down to Metricup (just past Busselton).  We stay in a 2 bedroom unit set in a patch of bush on a vineyard.  It's a beaut spot that we've stayed at several times before.  They allow dogs so it means that we can take Teddy with us. 

Teddy is over 16 years old now .... he has poor eyesight, no hearing and his sense of smell is almost gone.  He spends all his time in bed these days .... we will have to put him to sleep soon.

I'm staying inside today ..... it's cold and wet outside with thunderstorms forecast.  So it's much more pleasant inside with the fire burning.

#2207 Saturday 22nd July

It's a good day..... the routine has been followed precisely and so Kaylia is in a very happy mood. She's in her room with the music going..  Its funny.... for ages she wanted her bedroom door closed all the time...... but she now wants the door wide open. Go figure!

The "wampire box" is now in its waiting residence..... sitting in the corner to be used as a cupboard until the time comes for it to serve it's true purpose. 

#2206 Wednesday 19th July

 Brrr ...... it's a cold day and it has been very wet.  Since the weather (that we experience in WA) is a direct forecast of what the east of Australia can expect, I hope the people over east are putting warm clothes on!   And I'm very glad to live in WA with our stable electricity prices.  With our solar panels on the roof and our battery supply, our own house can be kept warm without having to turn off the heating.

Kaylia is at work today.  Since she hasn't been brought home early, I have to assume that she was considered healthy enough to be at work.  It's taking a long time for her to recover from this cold/flu thing.

#2205 Monday 17th July

 I got a bargain yesterday.....   I've been looking for a roof-top tent for a while now ... New price is $1,000 and up.  Secondhand prices are around $300 to $800.  I found one for $100!  It had some broken fittings that the owner couldn't fix so he was just getting rid of it.  I've managed to fix all the broken parts in a couple of hours and I'm very pleased with it.  There are no tears or damage to the tent.  I'm hoping that I can get Kaylia to accept the idea of camping..

#2204 Saturday 15th July

Kaylia is still not well..... she was sent home from work yesterday because she was too sick.  I'm encouraging her to sleep when possible.  Today we stayed in bed late. 

My shed project..... the "vampire box"..... is going well. The lid is finished and hinged with a catch.  No metal anywhere. Constructing with this limitation makes me stop and think. .... you would usually put some screws in.... but not for this.

The outside has a couple of coats of varnish and I'll line the inside next. 

#2204 Friday 14th July

 Kaylia is growing into being a self-assured person ...... she knows what she wants and what she doesn't want ...... and she's not afraid to say "NO" ... usually in 'capital letter tone'.  Her biggest problem is still communication.  She can't express abstract ideas .... I'm not sure that she can actually THINK abstract thoughts.  .... and she doesn't communicate whether or not she understands something said to her.  If she is given an instruction for an action then her doing (or not doing) the action shows her understanding. ..... but feelings?  .... or what she is thinking?