In The Dark

Blind people don't need to have the lights on to do things.  The past few days it's been just my daughter and me at the house as my husband and son are away.   We've gone out to dinner the last two nights in a row, leaving when it was light out and returning after dark.   Both nights when we came in the house, now in the dark, I watched my daughter unerringly weave her way through doorways and around furniture in the dim light of emanating from things like the thermostat, refrigerator ice maker lights, clock on the microwave, nightlight in the living room, etc.

She does run into things and I believe she also uses the light for object detection and avoidance, but she doesn't really need it that much.  I wonder if she'll live in a house in the dark when she's grown?  Maybe not if she has a roommate or is married with children at home, but I don't see her needing lots of light for herself.

It's uncertain, but I believe less light is better for her.  Too much light overwhelms her eyes.  She has glasses that concentrate the light with the high prescription and irises that don't function.   She doesn't complain about bright light, but she has mentioned recently that lower light is better.

Tonight I was going up to read to her before bed.   She headed up first and when I arrived, the lights were on in the room.   I wonder if she turned them on for me or for her?

The Big Boy Update:  When my son arrived in Florida, my in-laws picked him up.   He greeted my father-in-law with the following, friendly words: "Papa, you look ugly in that shirt.  Too much yellow."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter and I went to dinner with Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jonathan at a sushi and Thai restaurant that we coincidentally went to last night as well.   We had a nice meal with the two of them on Valentine's Day.  My daughter bought her bag of valentines from school and showed them what she'd gotten from friends and shared some of the candy with each of them.