This week we have mainly been....getting through it

The last seven days have been crazy for us and really really hard work.  Work has been hard (it's the whole school production next week), but it's home and health that have been harder.

On Friday we had a lovely morning out at Beanos where we could grab a coffee and croissant and Leila could have a run around and play on their play equipment.  It all started to go wrong though when we got home and Leila got grouchy as she was hungry/tired before lunch, so we were trying to make lunch whilst holding her.  She didn't eat much, but neither did Scott as he was suddenly feeling rotten and in fact needed to go to bed for the rest of the day.  He tried to surface at dinner time and bath time, but just felt so sick he couldn't do it. We're putting it down to a dodgy coffee/croissant, but it laid him up in bed for the whole day and made him really very sick.  Not nice at all for Scotty, or little Leila who kept saying 'Daaa ssshhhhh' which is her way of saying that Scott's sleeping.

Then Saturday was a busy day for me as Scott was at school and we decided to try a variation on our routine to try and get Leila to nap better in the day and sleep better in the mornings.  We tried moving lunch earlier (to 11.30) so that she can eat and then nap straight after, rather than getting tired around 11am but needing to wait until after 12 for lunch and then after 1 for a nap etc. The change didn't work today as she only had a short nap despite our efforts and so was tired and grouchy most of the day.

Sunday was work for us both and Leila was good once I got home but a sudden cluster of events meant that dinner didn't really work out (Ella left, Scott arrive and dinner was on the table all within 5 minutes so Little Miss was a little overwhlemed).  So much for trying a later dinner to see if it's an empty tummy that means Leila wakes after 10 hours sleep!

On Monday I was home in the afternoon with Leila and noticed that she had a bit of a temperature so gave her a bit of Calpol (which thankfully she didn't refuse) and managed to get her to take a bit of Neurofen at bedtime too.  Scott was exhausted this evening from long days at work and sleepless nights/mornings.

It was Tuesday though that things started to get really tough because Leila's temperature went through the roof.  It seemed just a little higher than normal in the afternoon, but at bedtime she was really hot to touch and so we gave her Calpol again, put the AC on in her room and dressed her in a cool sleeping bag in the hope that this would help.  She woke at 10pm and her temperature read over 40C which was a little scary, but we managed to give her a bit more medicine and get her down to sleep again.

The following morning her temperature was still there, but not as scarily high, so we spent the day at home and in Degla, taking Calpol and cuddles and naps.  Leila didn't want to be put down or left alone at all, poor thing, but we got through the day and another evening of high temp. Very tiring for us both and still another day to go before the weekend.

Thursday was again a day at home with a lower temp than previous, but still raised.  This was a toughest day for me, as Wednesday had really taken it out of me and I was feeling a cold coming on. By the afternoon Leila's temperature was nearly back to normal and at bedtime it was fine (and she didn't want to have the Calpol we offered) and once Scott got home she was in a really good mood too.

Friday and what do we wake up to - but the beginnings of a rash, so we figure out that the culprit this week is probably roseola.  Saturday and the rash has worsened in the morning, but by the afternoon is calmer.  The main thing for us is that it isn't bothering her and her temp, eating and drinking are back to normal.  She's still very cuddly and clingy to me, which we think is a hangover from feeling so rotten.  But now to try and persevere with our sleeping/eating routines and see if they help her get the sleep that she needs in the day and at night.

Playing on the CAC climbing frame

This climbing frame is meant to be for members of CAC only, but nobody ever seems to use it.  Fortunately the security guard likes Leila, so Alice gets to take her there to play!

Video catch-up

Now that the internet is back, I've uploaded a few videos from the past couple of months:

• Just arrived in the UK and walking around outside LHR Terminal 3 
• Splashing in London puddles
• Christmas with Leila, Alice, Fabia and Jess the cat 
• Sorting the empty water box 
• Plastic box go-kart 

There's still a huge backlog to catch up on (some going right back to when she was a couple of months old) but at least we're now able to get started on it again...!

This week we have been mainly....understanding

Leila really understands a lot of what we say now, and we're starting to understand her too as she mimics the sounds of words after we say them.

For example (most of the time) she can show us all her body parts when we ask; head, ears, eyes, mouth, nose, tongue, toes, belly button, hands. And yesterday she was looking for a book that I knew was in her room, so I said 'Leila, the Englebert the Elephant book is in your room.  Leila go and get it' and after looking at me slightly quizically she went off to fetch it! 

She's also getting really good at the actions in nursery rhymes as today she even was pointing to the window/door in Wind the Bobbin Up.

We've known for some time that she understands 'shoes' as meaning we're about to go out, but now she tries to say the word back to us, and tries to say 'socks', and 'slippers' too!

One of her first words might end up being 'Bikya' as she always hears the Bikya Man as he comes down the street.  She has started trying to say 'Fuul' and 'Lemon' which are the other calls she can hear from the street sellers each day.

When Scott is out at work, everything is 'daa' when she sees something that belongs to him; his razor, slippers etc. Any time I pick up my phone she thinks I am calling him (and most of the time she is right), but the moment I give the phone to her with him on the line she clams up!

Internet relief

So our internet problems started a week after we got back from our Christmas break, and now, two months on, have finally been resolved!  It's silly but we feel so relieved to know that our internet is back to normal.  Scott had come up with a 'work around' (that I blogged about here) that allowed us to browse, email and do some video skype, but it wasn't the same as we felt constantly constrained.  In the end, it took about 48-hours of intense hassling of TE Data and things were finally sorted.

The ridiculous thing was that 3 days after the problem started an engineer visited and identified the problem as being with the cable to the house, not internally in the house or at the exchange, and that this could only be fixed by Telecom Egypt. This was then followed by 4 weeks of phonecalls to TE Data to request that they put pressure on Telecom Egypt, but was met by 'we have no estimated time for the job to be completed'.  We finally were told that we could follow up directly with Telecom Egypt, but had no luck with this route either, nor the 'official complaint' that was made and promised to be resolved within 14 days.

On Monday we decided that we'd had enough and we'd try and get our money back from TE Data so I visited the office and saw Technical Support to say that after two months we'd had enough of no internet.  They were surprisingly helpful (unlike anyone on the phone) and said that they would try and fix the problem one more time from the exchange and then send round an engineer again if not.  Worth a try, I guess.

So the engineer called that night and then visited on Tuesday afternoon and within 5 minutes diagnosed no problem on the line, but said our lack of internet was because of our router.  Erm... so how has this happened in two months of not using the router?  That afternoon I take the router in to Technical Support and they say that yes there is a problem with it, but as it is out of warranty I need to buy a new one.  Of course buying one then and there isn't allowed because it is Scott's name on the account and so as I don't have his ID they won't let me purchase one!

That evening we try two different routers we have sitting around the house and neither work on the line, but we've come this far and so we decide to fork out for their official router if they really think the problem is solved.  So I go back with Scott's passport ready to buy one and sit forever in the queue to pay; only to then find out that I need my ID as well (and a driving licence won't do).  The thought of catching  a cab home and then back again and joining the queue again on a busy evening is beyond me and so I scrabble around and remember that I have a picture of my passport saved onto my phone. The girl agrees this will be sufficient, but only if she can print the photo.  So I then need to log in to their wifi and email her the photo.  The photo is terrible and printed A4 size looks nothing like a passport, but she lets me give her my money in the end (we later find out that by buying the router in my name, the account has changed name too!)

Over an hour later I get home with the new router and we plug it in.  The lights flash and then turn off and on again rather randomly and after about 15 minutes of flashing they are suddenly stable and it appears that we have internet. Yey!

Then we had a power cut for an hour.

The saga doesn't quite end there though as the following morning no lights will appear on the router and the automated response from TE Data's Helpline is that our account has been suspended.  We finally speak to someone and they won't put us through to Technical Support (about the lack of flashing lights indicating a problem on the line again) until we've paid our outstanding bill (even though they have agreed that our account should be credits for the 6 weeks we paid for but received no service).  We're torn between calling it quits and paying the money just to see if it will work when Scott gives in and points out we've come too far to leave it now.  He pays the bill and by the time he walks home from the office we're online again. Phew!

This week we have been mainly....differentiating

It's amazing; Leila has developed three distinctly different sounds for each of her grandfathers following last week's trip to the UK. Before the trip Scott was "da" and old men (!) were a lower "daaaa", but now; Gramps aka DaddyP is a low growl "grrrrr", Grandpa aka DaddyB is "ba" (like the "pa" in his name), and Granddad aka Graham remains a low "daaa".

Both Nanny and Granny are "nananana" and Fabia and Sam don't yet have a unique sound but that will come soon. Leila is able to recognise voices (video Skype with Granny wasn't working today so we did a voice skype), and photos (including our large group shot at th wedding). At Grandpa's house there are lots of pics of Scott growing up and after I pointed to one and saud "dad" Leila was able to identify him in them all!

Today we have been mainly doing nursery rhymes and actions. I took Leila to the bookshop yesterday and bought her a new book of nursery rhymes with actions for World Book Day which she is enjoying as she can do the Dingle Dangle Scarecrow and Wheels on the Bus. But Leila has realised that I have all the song sheets for Bounce and Rhyme at home (as I now 'lead' the singing each week) and wants to do these all the time. She can do (her version of) the actions to Pop a Pancake, Wind the Bobbin Up,  Three Little Monkeys and Little Peter Rabbit and she is trying to jump now too!