So I lost my 9 & 1/2 year old in the grocery store. Yep. Sure did. It was late after gym and we needed to return the Hobbit to a RedBox and pick up sauce for our pizza (Dinner at 9PM anyone?!).
We successfully returned the movie and that was where Beach found the drinking fountain. I waited. And I waited. But after a 90+ degree day and a 4 hour work out she couldn't get enough. I am not a patient mom when I was done waiting I said, "Come on." and ducked under one of the black coils strung across the nearest checkout stand marking it closed. Now if you have been to this particular Harmon's you will know it is bright and airy. I was standing 18 feet away unobstructed just beyond one of the checkouts. I called her name. Her head shot up but she couldn't see me. Again I called her and she looked around, at me, past me, and around again. I took a step closer and using her given I tried again, "Edison." A nice old lady walking by paused smiling. I watched the fear rise in Beach's eyes as again she strained to find me. She would look straight at me and see nothing. Two more steps towards her she caught sight of me as I once more said her name. The old lady walked by and Beach scurried through the isle to me.
It is amazing how much of her vision is perception that she fills in. Normally I would not duck a line I would have gone around so she didn't expect to find me where I was. As she grows older she is supposed to be gaining independence. There is a question here on how to help her gain the skills to safely achieve her freedom. She will need to learn to see what she can't, learn to trust what she is seeing, and learn to read the unexpected.
Like popping balloons...
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