Rotting Her Teeth & Rotting Her Brain
Posted By admin on January 8, 2008
Lyra had her first candy sucker this week. It was quite an interesting and entertaining event. She first got a “taste” of the sucker earlier that day during a visit to the doctor. We had to put it away shortly after the taste, when the doctor came in the room. Later that evening Lyra was digging around in her diaper bag when she FOUND it! You would have thought she stole someones wallet the way she ran off with it . She was sooo excited! She knew EXACTLY what she has found. It was too cute though, we couldn’t take it away…at least not at first. 
First we had to get it all on camera. 
I apologize for Lyra’s “camouflage” in the video. With her white shirt and white hair against my white(dirty white) wall, occasionally it seems the camera can’t find her… lol. You also get to see a little bit of Lyra’s personality coming out in this video. Near the end, you get to her attempt at saying “Doodlebop.”
Which brings me to the “rotting her brain” part. YES, we’ve started letting her watch TV…but only a little, 30 minutes-1 hr, 3-4 days/week. At first she showed a little interest in watching the Wiggles…until she caught a glimpse of the DOODLEBOPS!!! I can’t stand them, which is probably why she loves them. Actually it’s more likely because of the lively music and dancing and the bright colored characters. And YES, when she watches TV, she stands with her face about 12 inches from the screen…..but it’s not going to “make her go blind” or “ruin her eyesight”. That’s a myth. In Lyra’s case, watching TV may even be good for her vision. She is actively using/learning how to use her vision. If it were uncomfortable or not enjoyable, she wouldn’t attend to it for 30+ minutes. I’m sure jury is still out on this teaching tool, but I’m willing to go with it for now. She’s nowhere near couch-potato.
Also near the end of the video you get to see Lyra use her sign for “help.” Lyra has 5-7 sign-language signs which she uses on a regular basis. Most of them are Lyra adapted signs, definitely not ASL compliant. Lyra’s language development is a little behind and we are in the process of getting her speech therapy started. This is all worthy of another blog post at another time.
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My son, Frankie, who is 20 months, also has albinism. He too, has started watching some tv with my older daughter. He will sit very close to the tv, like you said. : ) He wasn’t interested at first, but is getting more so.
He also is delayed in speech. He is in EI, so they do some speech with him too. He knows a few signs.
Hi! Sorry I’ve been out of contact for a while, but I’m so glad to see how well Lyra’s doing. She is just SO adorable! I am relieved to hear that sign language is working for you because I haven’t been pushing as hard as I could since I assumed it wouldn’t do much good. Now I’ll pick it up again and work on it. Emerson’s behind in speech too, although I’m finding that the speech therapist can only do limited things at this age. Please keep me updated on how it works for you and hopefully I can catch you on chat sometime soon!