No, Thank You.

We have a very busy neighborhood.   The weather has turned into those perfect springtime days.   Mornings are already in the sixties, the sun is up long before you roll over to hit your alarm, and the air is crisp and fresh after the frequent showers that wash away the pollen of the last several weeks.

We hear the word "inclement" used to describe weather with negative characteristics yet we rarely seem to use the opposite word, "clement" to describe mild, beautiful, lovely placid weather.   What we've been having lately has definitely been clement weather.

My daughter has been going on walks with Keira, one of my daughter's friends.   They made a standing 4:00 afternoon walk plan as of yesterday, but this morning my daughter must have been bored and went on a walk earlier.

I found this out because she called me.   She has an Apple Watch so we can keep track of her GPS location and so she can call us if she is lost or if she needs us.   What she hasn't really had access to or realized is that her Apple Watch was paired to a phone—her phone.   There is really no way around this.  The watch is an extension of the phone, even though you don't need to ever move the phone anywhere off the charging stand to have the watch work, you still have to have it.

My daughter has been wanting to use the phone to call her grandparents and other relatives and when she's been at home, I let her put the phone on the play set in the back yard and then swing high in the swings while singing to my mother at the top of her lungs.   The wind noise with the watch might have been unbearable—my daughter is an excellent swinger.

Fearing for the safety of the phone, I got a protect-it-all case that has a belt clip as well as a cord that goes around your neck.   Also, it's orange.   These are characteristics my daughter liked very much and now she's been wanting to use the phone.

If you're thinking an eight-year-old with her own phone and Apple Watch is a little much, I hear you. She can't use the phone or watch in the same way other children would.   She's not sending text messages.   She can't see the screen so she's not playing games.   It's purely a way to call people when she has a need or to socialize.  So for this little eight-year-old who couldn't spend any "screen time" if she tried, because she can't see the screen, the phone is a good thing.

Back to the busy neighborhood.   This morning my daughter put on her shoes, put the phone around her neck over her pajamas, and got her cane.   Then she set off on the navigation assignment from her orientation and mobility teacher and started walking around the neighborhood.

There were people out walking this morning for exercise.   Out of politeness, people cross the street to get out of each other's way.   Isn't it interesting that two months ago that type of overt avoidance would have seemed rude?  My daughter had to let people get out of her way because she's doing a good job if she doesn't bodily run into a mailbox, although with her cane, she has a high chance she will find them first.

Today, people moved out of the way of my daughter.   People who saw the cane and realized she was carefully finding her way—and was blind.   I don't think that many people realize how very blind my daughter is.  We have a large neighborhood and there are many people we don't know.   My daughter was asked if she needed any help to which she said, "no, thank you."   She was also asked if she needed a ride home to which she also said, "no, thank you."

People respected her and let her find her own way.   I found out she was out walking when she called me on the phone and I realized she could use Siri to make a call, but she had no idea how to put the phone on speakerphone.   We fixed that when she got home.   Every day my little unstoppable girl does another thing we, as sighted people, find remarkable.   To her, it's freedom.

The Big Boy Update:  My son is at the age where hugging me isn't cool anymore.   Today, I brought him a caramel steamer (steamed milk with caramel).   He made the love shape with his hands at me and mouthed that he loved me "a whole lot."   Tonight, I'm going for a real hug when he least expects it.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter went on a second neighborhood walk this afternoon with Keira.   She wanted to dress up in her full Cinderella outfit with all the acoutrements including her hair in a bun and makeup.   I was going to the grocery store so Blake did her makeup.   Makeup is not something Blake has a lot of experience with.   My daughter loved it.   Blake said it turned out a little more "Jokerish" than he intended.