Brightness Matters

My daughter and her best friend, Madison, do a lot of playing together in our house.  Over the past several months, they've taken to finding hiding places to create a secret place to play.  A lot of these places have been closets into which they pile blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals.   We've admonished them several times that food isn't allowed in these places, and that includes dog treats, which they use to entice the dog to join them in their escapades.

One thing I've noticed recently is wherever they go, the room they're in has the blinds shut.   We keep our blinds open to allow light into the house.   Some people prefer to have the blinds closed for sleeping, but we've never done that for the children.  Which has had me wondering why they would shut them.

I asked a few times and got different answers.  Initially, my daughter said it was Madison who was shutting the blinds.   They were playing family or baby or pet doctor, and whatever they were doing required the blinds to be closed so the baby could have a nap, for instance.

I got a different answer yesterday when I asked my daughter though.   She said she had been closing the blinds.   When I asked her why she said because she could see better.   This was the first time she's said anything in a long time about being able to see differently based on lighting.

I let it drop because I know I won't get additional information out of her if I press for more information, but I kept it in mind and brought it back up today.   This evening I asked again about the blinds and lighting and could she tell me what lighting made it easier to see?   We did some tests with the lights in the kitchen and some lighting (overhead) she preferred if they were dimmed a good bit.  Other lighting, while indirect, was "ow, too bright" even though it seemed to me to give less overall light to the room.

Her irises are scarred open from the very first day in 2015 when the infection damaged her eyes.  Her then blue eyes turned a dull grey when the under layers of the irises were exposes from the damage.  Because of this, her eyes can't adjust to lighting like normal eyes do.  We've wondered if bright lights and sunlight bother her, but she never says they do.   This preference for dim lighting is a new development though.   She's given up almost completely on seeing, which makes this exciting in a way.  I don't think she's seeing much, but she knows she can see more in some situations.  

It's not much, but any improvement with her ability to see is worth accommodating her if she wants it.

The Big Boy Update:  My son came home today and was granted some free screen time.   He went downstairs and got on the Xbox and played in creative mode in Fortnite for several hours trying to recreate a "glitch" with a shopping cart and Millennium Falcon parachute.  I heard him excitedly yelling and talking to the television as he failed multiple times and then was successful.   He had me come watch him for a bit so he could show me the glitch he was so proud of finding.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has five large volumes of a book she has to read over track out.   She doesn't go back to school until January 27th.   Five weeks out of school.   It's her longest break of the year.