Denial is a river in Egypt

She can see where she is going; she can see where she is going; she can see where she is going. Why does she fall down steps?

As Charlotte's mobility increases, I get more and more worried that we are going to find out the truth that she can see very little indeed. We have been having a wonderful time with her, she is funny and cheeky, she loves looking at books, she plays with all her toys in ways that seem extremely normal to me, she has been making great progress with both gross and fine motor skills, she is starting to talk a little bit. Aside from her sunglasses or squinting, I really don't notice much that's different about her.

But she doesn't look across a room, ever; and she has a tendancy to fall down steps. Before you get all concerned, she doesn't take a tumble down a flight of stairs, she seems to see them ok. It is a single step that appears to come out of nowhere for her and end up with her face down on the floor. Even in our own house, which she knows best of all, (where there is only one step in the entire property) she has crawled off it.

I don't really know where this falls under normal toddler behaviour and where this is happening because she is a blind child. In my parents house, there is a particular step that my Mum had to put a black piece of tape across because fully-sighted people kept falling off it.

Will a few of these tumbles make her more careful or will she end up needing a cane to walk around people's houses?

Happy Solstice!

What great days for Achromats! With these dark mornings, early evenings (and even a solar eclipse!), these are the perfect conditions for Charlotte. As she gets older, I can imagine us taking her outside during days like this. She can learn how to ride her scooter or her bike in the dark, run all her errands as an adult and generally live quite a lot of her life in real twighlight here in the UK. If only it wasn't so cold, it would be perfect.

Happy Winter Solstice to Achromats everywhere - stay away Spring!

What a clever girl!

Charlotte can see so much more than I realised! She was emptying the kitchen cupboards again yesterday and started handing me plates. Then she wanted to put them up on the counter. This is delightful because she is mimicking me - our kitchen is brightly lit and her chair is a couple of meters from the counter. So this is marvellous vision indeed!

The sweetest moments

...are the ones that I never write down, and I really must, because they are so wonderful, and so easily forgotten.

This morning, Charlotte and I had a lovely cuddle in bed. She laid her head on my chest, she was perfectly still: no squirming, fidgeting or tensing. I stroked her hair and she lay across me, completely relaxed and calm. It was such a lovely start to the day, I wish all our days began in such a sweet and beautiful way.

Gene therapy research

I read an interesting article today about the advancement of gene therapy for different types of retinal diseases. Nothing brand new, but a good summary of the picture to-date:

http://www.discoverymedicine.com/Knut-Stieger/2010/11/16/gene-therapy-for-vision-loss-recent-developments/

Of course, it is the Internet, the largest source of unverifiable information anywhere. But it does give me hope. Hurry, hurry, hurry! Before she gets too old.

Tears of joy

I have been away from home again - the second time in two weeks. This time I went to Dubai for work. I kept the trip as short as possible but I was still away for two nights.

When I got back this morning, Charlotte recognised my voice and knew I was back. She bottom-shuffled over to me and when I picked her up, she was so happy! I just held her and cried! It's lovely to be so adored, especially by someone that I adore so much.

Perfect holiday accommodation

We have become huge fans of holiday cottages in the countryside. With two small children it is so much easier to load up a car, drive somewhere, get our groceries delivered and hang out for a week than it is to fly anywhere and stay in a hotel. The great bonus is that the setting and the style of the accommodation usually works perfectly for Achromats! The cottages are often old conversions of barns or farm buildings and have low ceilings, small windows and lots of beams. The weather is usually not particularly sunny either. We have had to be careful with unfamiliar stairs but they haven't proven to be the babyproofing nightmare that I feared. Luckily we were never that crazy about beach holidays and I can't wait to take her horseriding one holiday!