Parent of a Child with Albinism

Dominick is 5 years old. Dominick is my sweet baby boy, definitely a mama’s boy. He is laid back and untroubled, witty and random. Until recently he hasn’t really asked questions related to Lyra’s albinism. When she was born, we talked to him about it, but not in great detail. He was 4, so he didn’t really understand what it all meant. He knows to help keep the sun out of Lyra’s eyes and that she has teachers come work with her at home and she doesn’t see as well as he does, but he’s never asked why. I’m sure everything has affected him and his behavior to some degree, but not in obvious ways. He’s just the type of person that doesn’t worry about things. He gets that from his daddy. I’m so jealous. I take all of their worry, and then some.

The other day, Dominick noticed Lyra’s nystagmus. He was truly impressed by the “trick” that she could do with her eyes. He wished he could do it. He was so cute. He thought the eye twitching was a voluntary movement. I tried to tell him that Lyra wasn’t really doing anything, that her eyes did it on their own, but no way. He was convinced it was her cool trick and he was going to learn how to do it too.

Lyra’s teacher recommended, in the future, tell him that her eyes just work differently than ours work.