Miscellaneous ramblings

I've got lots to write about today, sometimes I think I don't have anything to say but if I really think about it, I can usually come up with something. Today, I have lots of somethings.

Firstly: Charlotte and her injuries. It's still not normal and not right. I took her to the doctor yesterday. He was nice about it but didn't really feel that it was so serious that it merited further investigation. He recommended damage limitation and wait and see. That's ok with me for now. While it is concerning that she would rather do the action than avoid injuring herself, it could be a bad habit, it could be a way of stimulating her senses, it could be soothing and hopefully, it will just go away on it's own. At least I have raised it with someone and I don't feel like I should be doing any more right now. The Dr pointed out that if anyone is going to work with children with negative behaviours, it would be when they are older anyway. I am still going to mention it to every professional that we go to see and I am going to call her VI teacher about it again when the summer holidays are over. Also, it is good that I know about these sorts of injuries before the new nanny starts, it would be very disturbing to have random bruises and scratches appearing on my baby with a new caregiver in the picture. I'll have to talk to her about them when she starts (one more week - can't wait!)

I finally got up the courage to start going through Charlotte's baby photos in preparation for producing a baby album for her. I haven't been able to look at photos from her first three months. All I think about is how we were so happy and we had everything we ever wanted. Well, no one ever has everything they ever wanted and we are still happy now. One of the things that Martin articulated when all this first happened was that he lost the feeling that he had always had that life would only get better. I think we are back in a place where we do expect that life will continue to get better. We really do have it very good. Still, the photo viewing did make me sad. But I am looking forward to producing a nice album for her. Since no one has given me a nice album, I think I am going to get a photobook online. Filling it with pictures of a second baby is always a challenge - there are almost none of them alone!

I finally took delivery of another Achromatopsia-related book today. It is No End in Sight, My Life as a Blind Iditarod Racer by Rachael Scdoris and Rick Steber. Rachael has Achromatopsia and I'm looking forward to reading it. In fact, I have read about two chapters already, as I finished undoing the packaging - even though I was supposed to be making dinner. I'm going to sit back down to it as soon as I finish this blog post. I think it will be a pretty fast read and I'll post a review when I am finished.

A good article about Blind Football was published by the BBC today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10914782 I don't know if I am more attuned to it now, but I do see mention of Blind Sport from time to time in the mainstream media. I guess it is one of the more intriguing things about blindness - most people know about Braille and guide dogs. I think it is good exposure and I really hope that we are going to be able to hook Charlotte up with sports associations in the future to help her build confidence and physical skills. Of course, if she wants to get out there with the fully sighted, that's fine too! I think I will be paying closer attention to the Paralympics, looking for blind athletes to point out to her.

The Yahoo Group has posted some early ideas about an Achromatopsia Conference that they would like to plan for next year. There have been a few in past years. It sounds like a good idea and I have been wondering if I can lend my event-planning skills in any way. Mainly, I am wondering if I can bring any money to it by finding willing sponsors or exhibitors for the event. I'm not sure, there are two companies I can think of who would be flogging their products and services to Achromats and they know they are already well known by the community so I don't know how much they would pay to get in front of them. Maybe to preserve exclusivity?
Sponsor types:
-Ophthalmologists
-Low Vision services
-Sunglasses
-Genetic testing services
Something to think about anyway. I wonder how many people they are expecting? I don't see us going but I'll follow along with their progress.