"Illness" and language delay

I THINK Emily's ill (maybe).

I don't know for sure as she can't communicate it to me. It's a bit like trying to diagnose a family pet - she's got a runny nose, screams when she eats and cries when she drinks, but she can't tell me if there's anything specifically wrong. She's not hot, per se, but she is warm and looks for cuddles when she's crying (which is quite often).

My 10 cent diagnosis is she has a sore throat. She can't tell me this, so I have to do my best Sherlock Holmes impression. Toast, which is rough, set her off when she had a bite. Apple juice, which isn't rough was OK. She did crack a mental when I proposed to dribble raisins on her cereal though... what the hell is that all about?

Again, she could either be ill with a sore throat (to go with the runny nose) or she could just be cranky and indignant.

Either way, it didn't stop her spilling a cup of apple juice on my parents' leather sofa. At least I could communicate to HER how annoyed I was at that.

Emily's communication

Emily's starting to make her intentions known, verbally which is good.

She's able to let us know she doesn't like something, which is better than nothing.

If we're reciting a song or a story to her and she's had enough, she'll start telling us "shh! shh! shh!". Likewise, she's started saying what sounds like "neesa" which we haven't fully understood yet, but believe it to be in the same vein - i.e. I don't like this and want it to stop.

Em's still communicating with more grunts than words, but telling us what she doesn't want is a step toward better communication.

Holy Crap!

We had quite a peaceful plane ride to Canada, which is nice. Em CAN be quite moody and unsettled sometimes when she flies.

There was ONE incident that was quite shocking. I took her to the loo to change her nappy, and there was only wee. I thought she'd like a baby wipe down the back to freshen up and as I did so, she opened the backdoor floodgates.

It was messy!

You can't really stop a child from pooping at the best of times, especially if they're standing on an air plane toilet seat while you're trying to change them. To say it went everywhere is not an exaggeration. I managed to clean everything up, but there were casualties. We had to spray her jeans with perfume to mask the smell and her sock was... well, she was standing in her bum chocolate, so her sock was DEFINITELY a casualty.

Apart from that stinker of an incident though, the flight went off without a hitch! We got our push chair just after we got off the plane and were able to wheel Em around while we waited FOR EVER for our bags, which is good because when we finally went through and met Nana, it was well past midnight UK time.

Travel to Dragonflies

Got a letter through the post this very morning from Sutton council saying they've accepted our claim and Emily will be provided transport to and from school.

This is terrific news and takes a burden off Sue's and my shoulders. However, we're not out of the woods yet. We need to ensure the eventual times work for Helen or we're going to still be in trouble as the paperwork provided clearly states they can't really change the times the child is picked up as the school run works pretty close to the bone.

Fingers crossed we get over this last remaining hurdle then.