Introducing "Cane"

Jack has a new constant companion. No, no, Irish has not been replaced. Where Jack goes, Irish usually goes too but now you'll be seeing Jack, Irish, and "Cane". I read somewhere that it's good for a child who uses a cane to name it. As typical with Jack, he names things what they are [He's got a plush puppy named Woof woof, a barking plush dog named Barking Dog, etc.]. So his cane is Cane.

A cane? Why does Jack have a cane? He's not blind! No, he is not completely blind. I think my recent Life at Dusk post gives a fair analogy of what Jack's sight is like. The cane is for Jack like glasses are for a near-sighted child, it helps him to better understand what he sees. It helps him to better navigate the world around him.

But Jack already wears glasses! Yes, he does. The glasses protect his eyes. Jack's visual impairment is caused by optic nerve atrophy and cortical visual impairment. The problem is not the image that comes into his eyes. His eyes themselves actually do a great job and only need a slight amount of correction. So the glasses don't really help his vision in a functional way.

Here are a few more articles that might help you to better understand Jack's cane use.

Why Do You Want to Make that Child Blind?

STEP TOWARD EQUALITY: CANE TRAVEL TRAINING FOR THE YOUNG BLIND CHILD

Blind Enough for A Cane?

We introduced the cane late last week. David really got Jack's attention by taking the cane and walking around in our tiled bathroom. David didn't say a word but Jack heard that cane tapping and ran after David to see what was going on. Here's a shot of that first evening.

David's next step as Jack's orientation and mobility instructor was to take Jack on an outdoor walk. Jack is already familiar with our home so he prefers not to use the cane in the home. David knew that we needed Jack to see that the cane actually benefitted him.

David is carrying a bamboo walking stick to simulate a cane and showing Jack how to keep the cane in front of him.

It wasn't long before Jack got the idea.

Of course, he's a little boy and he wanted to have a little fun like his Uncle Noah.

Here's a short video taken during this first cane outing.

After walking around on the sidewalk for a while we decided to try locating and going up and down curbs. Jack is very used to having to stop and shuffle walk until he finds the edge of the curb with his feet. Here's David trying to help him realize the cane can help him find the curb so he can continue his normal pace.

Jack discoved on his own that the cane helped him to "see" that the white lines in the parking lot were flat and not elevated. He was fascinated by this and ran his cane over and over the area.

Here's Jack proudly posing with his cane. He told me "Achoo [it's how we used to get him to smile for pictures] take a picture."

Learning how to manage the cane in the grass.

Tap tap tap on the wall

Using the cane to explore the park

Fun fun fun

He's still a little boy so sometimes he has to be reminded that the cane goes on the ground not waved around in the air.

Still perfecting the technique for uneven ground

Crossing a bridge over the creek

Hey Daddy, come sit with us on the creek bank!

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They made us do it!

Each week, Jack's class has a theme. Each day, he has to bring in an item related to the theme. Tuesday's assignment was to bring in a fast food wrapper. What were we to do? It's homework, after all!

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Go see yesterday's post to learn how you too can have a boring life!

Home Made Sinus Remedies

Even before Jack's stomach flu began, he's been having increased secretions and difficulty breathing at night due to that ever changing barometric pressure. Our family doc suggested Breathe Right Strips. I told him that I figured the concept would work but reminded him that Jack (who was not present) had an unusual nose and the Breathe Right Strips just didn't do their thing on him. "No problem," he said. He put his fingers on my face and showed the effect I was trying to create and said, "Just use band-aids." David laughed at me when I did this but it worked!

My bloggy friend Sheila also sent me these great tips from her Wellness Blog. I'm going to try these too (on me and Jack).

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Don't forget to check out this week's Life is Therapy where we take a break for snuggling and last week's Life is Therapy where I tell you why boring is good.

The Blank Stare--Word(less/ful) and Special Exposure Wednesday

Compare this

with this

.

Obviously, it's the same kid. Look again. What are your impressions? If this is your first time here and you've never met Jack, heard about Jack, or read about Jack, that first picture gives a much different impression than the second picture.

The second picture shows a child who is engaged with the world around him. He's looking at something. He is reacting to something.

But what about that first picture? He is not looking at anything. His facial expression is somewhat blank. He does not appear engaged with the world around him. He just has a blank stare.

Jack has this look. It's hard to get on camera because I'm never thinking about the camera when I see it. I went back through several months’ worth of pictures to find that first one and it doesn't capture the look completely. The look is a blank stare. You might describe it as staring off into space--like his eyes are open but he does not see anything.

Often he is very engaged with the environment around him when he does this. He is just not engaged visually. He may be listening intently or tactually exploring.

Have you ever seen a video of someone who is wandering about in the dark before their eyes adjust? That’s the look!

I worry a bit because the look might make some people jump to conclusions regarding Jack’s intellect. At first glance, he might appear to be completely disengaged from the world. It takes effort sometimes to pay attention and figure out just what he is paying attention to.

It’s difficult to explain to people that Jack doesn’t always use his eyes. But that’s what it is. If I had his vision, I hope that I would find other ways to explore my environment too. Still, he’s not fully blind so to treat him as if he was totally blind makes no sense. He has vision and he uses it. He doesn’t have good vision though so it doesn’t make sense to treat him as if he can see the world like most of us. AND it’s hard to know just exactly what he can and cannot see. It’s hard to know if he is not using his vision because he really can’t see something or if he has just adapted to not using vision that is blurry/unfocused.

Back in this post [editor's note: How ironic! That post was written one year ago today.], I said that I cannot wait until we’re on the other side of Jack’s vision issues and have things figured out. Well, we’re still on this side of figuring things out. I’m not crying for the lack of vision anymore but we still don’t have a solid plan and I still feel like we’re fumbling around in the dark trying to figure out what part his vision is playing in Jack’s overall development and what we should or should not be doing as far as adapting his school work and his environment.


Do you know someone who is legally blind and has vision of 20/300 at best? I’d love to hear from someone who sees like Jack sees.

Don't forget to check out yesterday's Life is Therapy post where you can learn why boring is good and link up your own Life is Therapy post.


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Sophie's Birthday--Wordless/ful and Special Exposure Wednesday

A few weekends ago, we all braved the cold and wet and headed to a local park for our little friend Sophie's birthday. Brrrrrr....the wind blew and we were ccccccooooold but kids alway manage to have fun in the outdoors.

We took full advantage of all the playground equipment

Plenty of time on the swings,

and climbing.

Sophie's Aunt Kristen even got in on the fun!

That's why call her Grace!

Do they look cold? Birthday girl is in the middle with the pink jacket, brown pants and pink rain boots.

Mmmm....birthday cookie!

Thanks for the invite Sophie and family, we had a lot of fun!

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Don't forget to check out this week's Life is Therapy.

Our Budding Maestro--Wordless/ful and Special Exposure Wednesday

He is gifted. He has no models at home. I would love to play a musical instrument but I have rhythm issues. And Dave...well, I think he aspired to play the guitar when he was younger...Jack has a natural gift for music. Percussion instruments were his favorite for the longest time but he has recently branched out to the lap harp, guitar, and keyboard. It's not random banging of the keys either. It's purposeful. He sits there tapping the keys and he'll lean in to listen to the sounds like he's just absorbing it all. It seems that each time he sits at the keyboard he expands his playing a bit. Maybe he's composing his first symphony?

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Don't forget to check out this week's Life is Therapy.

A New Phase--Wordless/ful and Special Exposure Wednesday

There comes a time in a child's life when it's just time.....

for the big boy pants!

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And don't forget to check out this week's Life is Therapy.

First Movie!--Wordless/ful and Special Exposure Wednesday

As I mentioned yesterday, Jack saw his first full length feature film at the theater over the weekend.

So what did Jack think of his first movie?

Do you see the "Wow!" on his face?

It was very dark in the theater at first and he did not even register the screen. Once we got settled into our seat (he decided to sit on my lap) with his slushie and his popcorn, he decided to look up and I could not see his face but his head stayed perfectly still. I grabbed my phone and captured this picture.

He loved it! We saw The Princess and The Frog.

As soon as I saw the preview on our Snow White DVD, I knew that The Princess and the Frog would be Jack's first "big movie". The preview showed singing, dancing, and lots of different funny voices. The clincher was Disney's return to hand drawn animation for this movie. Hand drawn cartoons usually have the characters much better defined in the foreground with less detailed and darker backgrounds. In other words, high contrast animation!!!

Jack sat quietly and watched most of the movie. We had one seat change when he decided he wanted to sit on the very front row and I had to explain to him that he could not run up and touch the screen. At the very end, he got a little antsy but the remaining popcorn and slushie were enough to entice him to stay until the end.

Of course, once the movie was over he was

more than ready to run!

I did get him to stop and pose for me in front of the movie display

His face screams, "I can't believe you are making me do this!"

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Does this really need words?

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Don't forget to check out this week's Life is Therapy.

More Merry Pics

More merriness....these were taken at our small little house church Christmas party...

Weslie (and Natalie in the background) enjoyed the Dirty Santa White Elephant game.

Karen looked oh so pretty in pink talking to

Sweet Joshua and his Mama (this is one of my favorite pics ever)

while Jack munched on cookies and watched God made Christmas.

I wasn't the only one taking pictures. Look closely in the mirror and there's actually a very nice shot of Donna, Natalie, and John.

I don't know what these serious faces were about (or maybe I do but I'm not saying anything but um, congratulations and don't forget to call Sarah's Flowers!)

More of the Merry Makers!

Check out this week's latest Life is Therapy.

Merry Children--Wordless/ful and Special Exposure Wednesday

This year, younger folks on both sides of our family rebelled against tradition. David's side usually gets together on Christmas Eve after mass and the Christmas play. This late get together made for some overly tired parents children. So we moved our celebration to an earlier date and time and much happiness ensued.

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Don't forget to check out the latest installment of Life is Therapy.

Wordless/ful and Special Exposure Wednesday--Decorating Nana's

This is Nana.

Each year, Nana (my grandmother) chooses her very favorite of all her grandchildren and great grandchildren to come decorate her house for Christmas*. Jack has been chosen every year since his birth. And, of course, I was chosen every year since my birth.

This year's other chosen few were

Rachel

Tunnel Deborah

and Noah.

This year, Nana also asked Anne (Noah's mom/Jack's Oma) to come and bake some cookies to feed the troops.

Here was the blank canvas we started with....

Jack's not big on decorating so he decided to provide some entertainment

in the form of

flipping...

Not to be outdone in the cuteness department.....

Noah did a little improvisational

twirl and

step

dance!

Next up, the big kids tackled the yard decorations....

while Jack protected the cars.

I forgot to get a shot after the boxes were taken away.

But I did remember to capture the beauty that is Nana's Christmas tree.

*So it may not be 100% accurate that Nana chose only her favorites to come decorate the tree. The truth is she invited all the grandkids and great grandkids but the rest of you slackers her sweet grandchildren were too self-involved unfortunately previously obligated to other activities. Let this be a warning, next year, y'all better be at the tree decorating or I'll really talk some smack about you! They were all greatly missed and we look forward to having a much bigger group next year.

Jack's Great Aunt Ninfa showed up later and helped finish up the final decorating but by then the food was on the table and I was too busy stuffing my face making sure that Jack got a good meal in after all his hard work.

We had fun guys! Thanks for having us over, Nana!

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Don't forget to check out this week's installment of Life is Therapy.