Up for a chat?

@AuntGlow i had a really good day today, after another shocker yesterday. Today was the opposite though the first few hours were still hard going, by 9:30am i was up and about fixing things and spending time with my wife.

Late this afternoon we had a 'staff' meeting with the main people with work our Down Syndrome Daughter, who recently has moved into her own home. Four dedicated women, most with years of experiences working with Down Syndrome, have made the transition go almost smoothly so far. and we are rapt.

Our daughter, who suffers from C.P.T.S.D from before she came to live with us at 5 years of age, and is 38 now, can have unpredictable behaviours when things go wrong. Made more complicated by her very limited vocal ability. Where both both her limited intelligence, as well as her difficulty speaking because of the shape of her tongue, make figuring out what the issues might be very hard at times.

In the past we went through workers like hotcakes, because they found it so hard to work with her for she would not communicate. Usually because they would treat her wrongly so she would withdraw and become uncommunicative, or worse aggressive, when they really ignored her needs. We did not tell them, but we knew, for we know our girl.

Shocking how many workers are in it for themselves. For the women who stuck with her in the end, got to know our daughter for the beautiful person she is. For once someone gets to know our girl they will love her. For she is a beautiful person. But when people treat her as irrelevant, those very people become irrelevant to our girl, and she will become impossible to work/live with.

We have learned to see the sign in our daughter, for she may not talk, but her mood will tell us, and how she behave there in, will tell us what happened. This way we can relatively quickly figure out if a person is 'suitable' to work with our girl.

Consequently two of the women working with her have done so for many years, albeit 1/2 day a week for most of that time. For not only are they good workers, they love her and she loves them, that is all we really look for. People who care enough for her to assist her living her life to the maximum of her ability with out stressing her but making sure she enjoys her life.

In the end, after working with her for many years, and our girl learned to trust them, we could utilise these women and their families, to help her get over her separation anxiety, she suffered from for many years. And this has now progressed her living in her own home. Which we saved for since soon after she came to live with us, for an uncle left her a nice sum of money when he died, which we invested for her, adding the part of her disability pension she did not cost us. And now, together with another couple who also have a Down Syndrome daughter, we bought her a house. And although the other girl is not planning to move in with our daughter yet for some years, we bought this house anyhow so it is all ready for when she does.

The staff meeting this afternoon was to compare notes, and informing some workers on how to best deal with some of the harder issues our girl can demonstrate when things have not gone right. For this can really be hard to figure out, and only when you know what to look for, and how to deal with it, will resolve happen, otherwise difficult behaviours can quickly escalate into a crisis.

This happened last week for some workers would not give her enough down time to process activities, and then would hand her over to the next worker, who then would have to deal with her escalated stress levels, not having any idea what had happened before she came to work, and how come our girl is behaving like she is. Luckily some of the workers are already aware, and basically figured our girl out but the new worker did not know how best to deal with such a situation and had copped the wrong end of our girl a few weeks back, stressing from the busy days she had before. We hope things will continue to go well and these smaller details will get ironed out.

Overall we are both so happy with this team, and really hope the new comer will warm to our daughter to want to continue working with her. For we do thinks she is excellent, and our daughter likes her a lot, but she seems very insecure and a bit intimated by the more experienced workers. She seems unsure if she wants the job, but has almost finished her three months probation. So we really hope so, good workers are almost impossible to find.

Have a nice day.

Hey @DownMoreThanUp apologies I missed your post on the 25th,

I so loooooove the pics you have shared!! So much new life and all sooooooooo cuteeeee!

I am also so glad mumma duck has mananged to keep 10 little ones so far!

keep the photos coming when you want to share always warms my heart and brings a smile!!!

I wish I had all that new life around me ☺️

It sounds like the meeting went really well with your daughter and hope the trip to the dentist with her went ok!!

@AlwaysMyself, sorry I also missed your post 🤯 sorry 🤪🙈. Hope the packing has been going well! I hope you have the best time !! Said it before but look forward to hearing all about your holiday I really am!! Take care and have lots of fun 🥳🎉

@Chasingsunsets Yes our duck has still 10 ducklings their survival chances are right up now, having made it this long. i will see if i can take some more photos of them today to show the progress. We also have 5 chicks hatch, they are inside our house, just out of the incubator, and still under the heating pads, and are all doing well. Yes animals are fun to have around, but can be a bit of work to take care of, and very noisy. Roosters and Guiana fowl certainly are, and Geese can be if something is wrong.

@AlwaysMyself @AuntGlow @Till23 @heartathome @Moose123

i did not end up going with our daughter to the dentist the other day, for i was not all that well and my wife assured me, i had misunderstood the appointment, and they would only inspect the work on her teeth, but make another appointment to have the work done. Good i did not end up coming along for my wife was right, they inspected the work that had to be done, and put her on the books in case she needed an emergency appointment, but that was all. i think the extraction is booked for half way November.

We do have to buy her something we can put on her face to cover her eyes, we should be able to get eye pads people use going under light lamps, and my wife discussed how best to keep her in position during the procedure.

The dentist assured us, after she inspected our girl, she had done dental work on others, who acted like our girl, but that together we should be able to pull it off. Yet even if it would not work, she would then be able to book her into hospital to have it done.

So hopefully she will not have any more tooth aches before this time and i be well enough to help out that day. For our girl is very sensitive whom she trust to keep here calm, only those very close to her, she will trust enough to heed under such kind of stressful situations. i will keep you updated how we go.

i woke up this morning in pain. Another kidney stone by the looks of it. It is rather painful right now and i've been drinking already 3 big cups of fluids, since i got up. i been having so many kidney stones ever since i've been using turmeric's active ingredient curcumin, for about 18 months i think, to help with my gut issues, as well as anti-acid tablets i began using later on to help treat the nausea. Yet now i have developed lots of stones. So far they have not between very large, and i pass them after a few hours, if benign in size, but up to 3-4 days if larger, and they are much more painful of course.

This one is rather painful at the moment, a hot sharp pain, but it has already travelled from higher up my back near my spine, to much lower down, is now in my side and more around the front already. So hopefully i can flush it soon if i keep drinking and it is not going to be few painful days again. Or worse force me into hospital. Which has happened on two occasions in my life, and have been the most painful times i ever had to endure, so i hope and pray this one will pass without such torment.

Otherwise my mood is fine and i hope i will have a nice day today. We are expecting 24 today, lovely weather at least.

Have a nice day.

EDIT

all ten are safe and soundThis how mother duck lost her first 7 ducklings, all spread out instead of close to mum hugging the edges, and shadows of the dam rather than swim out in the open. We have been amazed she has not lost more. Last year she lost 14 in 2 days letting her ducklings doing this. Other mother ducks do NOT behave like her.

Hi @DownMoreThanUp Oh wow! I’m so proud she still has 10!! That’s great odds for her! She’s learning by the looks!

It sounds like you and your wife are well prepared and know exactly what to do to calm your daughter. She is definitely lucky to have you both 🙏

Sorry to hear about your kidney pain. I hope it improves soon and no large stones to test you out 😬

I haven’t been able to see your pics yet, I’ll make sure to keep checking here 😀, great to chat to you and hope you are having a lovely evening

Aw I love the pics @DownMoreThanUp !! Those ducklings are sooo cute!! They are definitely spread out in the beginning weren’t they!! I’m glad they are sticking with mum now the rest of them!!

I hope you have a good day, what’s on for you today?

@Chasingsunsets i'm feeling well today so i want to repair some aluminium chairs we bought years ago, thinking they would last, but the seating part rotted away in just a few years. Yet i know the frames will remain good 'forever', so at the time i stacked them away. A few months ago i found them back and figured out a way to get them repaired without spending a fortune on more chairs that will still rot beneath our butts.

So i bought a large sheet of thick plastic fencing from Bunnings. From which i plan to cut out the seating part for each chair, and then fasten it to aluminium frames with nice smooth flat head screws. For then my wife can buy me some outdoor pillows at Target, and we will have our four chairs back. This time without ever rotting away underneath our bums again, (as it should have been from the beginning.)😁

Some photos i took this beautiful warm sunny morning

Oh wow @DownMoreThanUp those pics are so stunning!! Love the little ducks and still so proud mum has been able to keep 10 so far!!

Look at you go re back to fixing things!! I really wish I was handy and had fix it skills lol!! How are you going with those chairs a bit more sturdy now??

your flowers are just beautiful!! And that waterfall - just amazing I’d love beautiful flowers and a waterfall in my garden!! You have done so well with everything in your garden!!

how was your day?

@Chasingsunsets i did not get around to doing the chairs for the nausea set back in today, still struggling with that today. Hopefully soon. It is not a big job, 60 minutes or so should do it i hope.

Yes i love our garden, my wife has green fingers, and each year the garden transforms before my eyes each Spring. i love that. Did you see the African Lily? The white blossoming one? i love that flower. Each year it comes back. Needs a dry part of the garden. The Swan Necked Watsonia is magic too with its strangely twisting flower heads. Both die in Summer.

The pond with the fish and the sound of the waterfall is my favourite place to sit y far though. i love meditating on the meaning of my existence there. Running Water reminds me of the river of life running through our veins each time we love true.😁

To love true, loves Love to love all those who are in need of loving true!

Boy oh boy! @DownMoreThanUp @Chasingsunsets The photos are amazing!

Hey @DownMoreThanUp ahh that’s ok always tomorrow 😊

I’ll have to go back to the flower!! I don’t know my flowers haha, I was very impressed by all of them!!

I can feel why that’s one of your favourite places sounds so peaceful and tranquil. I love the sound of water 🙏

I also love your quote 🫶

lovely chatting and hope you feel better tonight 🤞

@tyme