What Gracie Sees

Looking up is something new for Grace. Because of the pressure of the extra fluid in her brain and her low vision, she normally keeps her eyes downcast. Seeing her look up makes my heart sing.

Grace recently had her follow up with the opthamologist. We still don't know how much she can see, but the nystagmus (eye's shaking) and strabismus (eye crossing) is getting better. He asked if I think she is seeing better and I wasn't sure how to answer that. Sometimes I feel like she can absolutely see. Other times she won't look at something that's right in front of her. She seems to see better with her peripheral vision and when it's especially well lit, but tends to hold toys very close to her face often.

Grace looking at her ring. It's hard to know if she does this because she can see them better
this close or if this is just a quirk. She does this frequently.

So many things about Gracie's condition are "wait and see". Will she be able to see normally? Will she need to learn braille? Will she be able to attend school without special assistance? Will she run into things a lot when she starts crawling/walking? There is no guidebook on what to do when your child is visually impaired. No "What To Expect - The First Year with your VI Baby".

Maybe I should start writing one...