Something to do

Vision therapy is going to be awesome.

Q saw the world's nicest optometrist on Tuesday. The man is very observant, giving voice to things I'd had that gritchy mama gut over but couldn't quite articulate.

So. Q is exhibiting some "autistic-like" avoidance behaviors. He shuts his eyes and ducks his head down, chin to chest, when he gets overwhelmed by noise or light. He is needing more horizontal stimulation and some help to stop seeing with double vision (maybe we'll work on that next time). In the category of something to do: I hold him with his back to my chest, my hand over his eyes, and spin him around several times every hour, twice each direction, repeating 2-5 times, depending on what he can take. This is supposed to help his vestibular function and vestibulo-ocular reflex, I believe. If I'm getting this right, in the best case scenario there are three neurons involved in this balance/vision thing (three!) and he needs all three of them firing on schedule.

After the doctor had me spin with Q on my lap the first time, Q sat up straight and looked him in the eye, focused, maintained, and smiled. It was like flipping a switch. His therapist said today that he seems more alert, organized in his brain, less easily overwhelmed. Apparently, if we make this part of his system work more, it will want to work more and eventually, the hope is that his brain will "get" that this is how it should be working always, without spinning around all the time, and it will just sort of kick in.

We'll be going back to see the ophthalmologist again soon, but after this, with advice from the optometrist, I think we'll be delaying the eye surgery until he's about a year old. Who knows, maybe he'll get to skip it altogether. We'll see.

See? I told you vision therapy is going to be awesome. All this in the first visit. What a miraculous time and place to live.

My mother-in-law is in town with a friend for this year's CE. We're casting about for something fun to do--mountains or water, we'll see. In any case, there aren't many mothers-in-law who would be such a rock in these kinds of hairy circumstances, but she is, and I'm really enjoying her, as are the kids.

If I don't make it back here before, have a lovely holiday. Revel in your personal freedoms and do something to increase someone else's chances at freedom and personal choice to honor the day. I wish you peace, blessings, and the arms of your beloved.

Sleep well.