Day Eight!

Writing this is the wee hours because I may or may not be near a computer tomorrow.

Erin made an interesting comment, which got my wheels spinning. She said that I would have to teach new friends about Charlie. How true! I think that the really great friends will distinguish themselves.

Speaking of which, I had my great lunch yesterday with a college buddy and she asked some questions about ole Charlie. Since I don't have a whole lot to say, I'm gonna go over what she asked and also tell you my answers.

Does Charlie see better out of one eye or the other? How do you know if he's looking at you?

Charlie seems to use both eyes equally. People want to say he has a "good" eye, but truly we haven't seen that. He seems to have more problems with getting his eyes together and on target. This means that sometimes he sees something and you don't know it. He doesn't appear to be looking at something and then he lunges at it, or grabs it, and you figure he must have seen it. Other times, he looks right at you and you know it. It depends. I suspect that much of his vision issue is related to all the tiny muscles that control the eyes. The older he gets, the better he is at looking at what he wants.

Does cerebral palsy always involve intelligence?

This is a big no. Cerebral palsy effects movement. That's it. We, as a society, tend to assume that a person is dumb if they can't speak or write clearly. Honestly, this stuff is all muscle-related. I think we all know that plenty of thoughts and thinking occur without moving a muscle. So. . . while some children with cerebral palsy have lower IQ's, it doesn't mean that they have to.

And just a random, CP mommy fact that you may or may not know. Charlie doesn't have the strength to sit in a restaurant high chair. They've got no back, no sides, and basically zero support. For this reason, I bring Charlie's seat with me when we go out to eat. Interestingly enough, the restaurant people don't bat an eye. They are friendly and helpful. It takes two people to get Charlie and all his crap into a restaurant, but it CAN be done.

Night all!