Thursday, February 24, 2011

Childhood Joy

As I said yesterday. Abby will soon forget "the worst birthday ever".  We finally had her birthday meal out and she had a great time.

Abby isn't a visually impaired child first. She is first a child.  A little adventurous, a little crazy, loving 7 year old child. She still thinks she is princess (and isn't afraid to tell you).   She still fights with her brother. While at times I look at how much of our lives have changed I realized that many things are still the same.

Worst Birthday EVER!!

Abby turned 7 this past weekend. We had a full weekend planned with lots of excitement.  Most of the weekend had to be scrapped though because Abby became ill.  She told me a few times that this was the "Worst Birthday Ever".  She really loves to be a little over dramatic but she really did not enjoy herself one bit.

It  just broke my heart. You can't plan when you are going to end up unwell.  It was just sad that for all the weekends during the year Abby's birthday weekend was the one that she had to not feel so good. 

She will forgot with time how horrible it all was. I have a VERY special outing planned in a few weeks for her birthday and we still have her birthday dinner coming up.

I can't help but think of her birthday last year. She had a party with lot of school friends.  It was a great time.  (we always do parties every other year and plan a special outing on the 'off' year) Last year she had normal vision. She didn't have the cares she does now. Her life was just more simple.

So looking back perhaps this birthday was the worst for it was the first birthday since the vision loss.

I am so proud being Abby's mother it doesn't mean my heart still doesn't break.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

The best things in life are free*.

(well free is the wrong word. Someone is paying for these great programs. THANK YOU)
I have recently found some great programs that encourage Braille literacy.  

Abby has struggled learning a skill her classmates  aren't learning. Programs like this are such motivators. 

1. NFB Reading Pals Program. Its a program that enrages early braille literacy for ages 7 and under. 
My daughter got so exited to have a little 'pal' to read Braille with. 

2. ReadBooks from the National Braille Press for birth to age 7
The bag was amazing.  It was stuffed with goodies. For the child and parent. She is going to use the bag that it came with to keep her Braille books in it and bring them back and forth between school.   The NBP is also a great resource for buying braille books.  They do a beautiful job.  The books are also reasonably priced.

3. Seedlings Book Angel Program. 
You can register to get 2 Braille books a year for your child. 
Seedlings is also another resource for getting inexpensive Braille books.

More programs..
http://www.wonderbaby.org/articles/braille-resources.html