25th of March

7.20pm Tuesday evening. Jaana has out of lately, been putting in a lot of effort. This has resulted in better head control (which will eventually lead to improvements in her left arm), work on shorter sentences and today she managed to sit on her own correcting her balance for some time. Again, there is a very long road ahead, but all improvements are welcome. Her shoulder had been aching before, but is now much better and she does not have any more pain.
We all had a great Easter and yesterday, the boys, Camille and me with heaps of others, were on a catamaran snorkeling. The boys enjoyed it very much. Today is Totte's birthday and he has been out playing with his new toys all day.
Parmi has gotten over her ear infection and is back to her happy self. She was a bit down during her illness, but is now smiling again.
Yesterday evening there was a fire around here, a bit to close for comfort. It is very dry here now (has not rained for over 3 weeks) so there are a lot of wild fires and many lit up ones as well. This one, stopped 150m from the buildings, but burnt down a whole field of mine. No harm done, but rather got invited to the local cricket game as we watched the firemen sleepy eyes watch over the fire.

21st of March

8.26am Good Friday morning. Jaana is making slow but steady progress. One issue is that she is actually capable of a lot more tasks than she executes. If one ask her to do something, she does so, but only after being requested to do so. Last week we went out of lunch and twice she turned her head to the far right (which is the tricker side to turn for her) just to have a look at the family sitting next to us. This might seem as nothing, but I did not ask her to do that. It was something she wanted to check out. I was very great full to see her doing something using her senses (she heard something) and then doing something (turning her head far right) which certainly is a bit of an effort.
The therapists are still coming over easter but will have a little reduced schedule. Jaana is getting stronger by the day and with the very structured and thorough work of all her therapists, this is carefully measured and observed.
Two evenings ago, Jaana spotted a fly on the ceiling. The fly later moved and I asked her if she could spot it again. She looked around and found it. Her eyes and vision does not seem to be a problem. Her field of vision might be, which is why this will be tested in a week or so. The optician just wanted her head movement to be a bit more assertive and for Jaana to be able to respond a bit more consistent with the keyboard/mouse. Therefore, Giselle (the OT) has started to train easy exercises with the computer.
The kids has just started their 3 week Easter break! On Monday there will be some snorkeling from a catamaran and the week after, I signed them up for a sailing course. Jonathans birthday is on Duusday so he is looking forward to that.
With all this, I want to wish everyone a Happy Easter, we will certainly have one!

15th of March

7.58am Saturday morning. Yesterday the speech therapist tried an exercise where there was one word written in small text (3mm letters) with 6 pictures around it, one representing the word. Jaana had no problem reading the word and pointing at the right picture! This confirms that her vision is some what alright and her hand coordination is getting better. There is a long way from here to read a book or such, as she would get very tired after only a sentences when the words a close together. In wait for her motor skills to improve further, exercises with computer and the same as above will continue. In a couple of weeks she will go through an thorough visual assessment, where her field of vision can be determined. Some of her physio exercises which took an hour a couple of weeks ago, now only takes half the time. The occupational therapist is working on her balance which still is rather on the poor side.
Parmi is getting better from her very serious ear infection. She ended up with three holes in her eardrums. As she is eating antibiotics, she should not have to many more of them and it is getting better. The children are all fine. They have 4 days of school next week and then they have 3 weeks easter break between semesters.

9th of March

3.50pm Sunday afternoon. Jaana is resting a bit inside today. Not on top form, but doing ok after a full week of exercises. Small improvements each week, but all in the right direction. she is now able to eat and drink quite well on her own with some cutting assistance and so forth. We are trying to get her life and routine back as much as possible to normal. This is one of the exercises the OTs would like to see. There is not too much new things happening. We have yet to get Jaana down into the swimming pool. First I need to find her swimming gear among all the boxes.
Parmi have had a very bad ear infection. I hope she will get better next week now. Camille and the boys are ok.

1st of March

8.50 am Sunday morning. Jaana has a bit of the same cold Camille, Parmi and I have. In addition to general panadol etc she is given some antibiotics (and probiotics!) to make sure she does not get a chest infection. She seem to be cooping well, but has a bit less energy and will to do exercises. I can fully understand this as I have very little energy to anything myself. However though, I think it is getting better. Camille is much better now then she was a few days ago. The rehab has continued as planed and I am pleased to say that she is making some progress on the speaking front. This morning we practiced a bit and with a bit of rest in between she said: "Jag vill aka bil". One can not hear every word crystal clear, but it was fully understandable.
Today we are all going to see a polo game. Ludde had a friend for a sleep over but now they have some homework to do. I need to run now as help is needed. Later