Last night I received a comment from one of the readers here asking me how I could watch a baby. I composed a reply, but for some reason the bloop page had some type of error, thus I didn't get it sent. I was tired, and not feeling so hot so I didn't redo it. So I've decided for educational purposes and stuff I'll post here about it for all to read.
First of all I want to say that I have no problem with questions about my blindness. Some people, well most of you have probably never ever in your life had a thing to do with a visually handicapped person in any way. And yes I am disabled, I do not have a problem with this word. Some blind folks do, but I'm not ashamed to be what I am. God made me what I am, and he did it for his reasons. It could be so much worse.
My mom has said ever since I can remember that she feels blessed that all I was is blind. At the university of Michigan they told her when I was a baby to prepare that I could have other disabilities than the blindness, and to prepare herself for that possibility. She had 2 children before me, so she said that she didn't feel there was anything wrong as she felt that I was developing as well as the other 2 did for the most part. However, she did worry about it a bit as my mom.
It all turns out that I didn't have any other issues. I am perfectly intelligent like the average person. I graduated high school, and took some college classes. I feel I'm pretty bright anyways.
So no I don't worry over being blind. There are folks out there in much worse positions than I am, much worse! I am blessed I think.
I will have to say that I've been blessed. When I was 14 my older sister had my niece Ashley. She and my sister lived with us for her first year of life. So I got to help out with Ash and stuff.
My sisters and brother, and a good friend did let me baby-sit there baby's, so I've had experience with this. I baby-sat for a friend about 10 years ago full time too. That baby was more of a challenge than Jackson, as he was a cute, yet quite demanding baby. He got me ready for anything, LOL!
Watching a tiny baby is actually easier than any of it after. A baby you have to do everything for, but changing diapers is not difficult once you've done it. Feeding isn't difficult either usually. The bottle is easiest of course. The baby food feeding, well if you have a baby like Caleb was for me; you have a baby getting food all over him, LOL! Some are easy, some make it a bit more difficult, but I've heard from sighted folks the same thing. I've not fed Jackson baby food as of yet, but it's coming. I've just been giving him baby cereal in a bottle during the day so far. As he's nearly 6 months old I'll have to feed him baby food during the day soon I'm sure. I am told by Rachel though that he's a bit of a challenge, and this does not surprise me in the least, as he's sometimes finicky about his bottle, LOL.
When they are out of baby stage, then it becomes more of a challenge. I have never had a problem with it, I just make sure my environment is such that I know exactly what is around. I had a friend that had baby twins I use to baby-sit. It was fraternal twins; a girl and boy. A few times she wanted me to come to her house and baby-sit them. I like to baby-sit in my own home because that way I have things setup so I know there is no dangerous stuff they can get in there little mouths, or anything they can get into is not available to them. At someone Else's home that is more of a challenge unless they are good at the baby proof thing. When I baby-sat for my sisters and brother they were good about this; so I didn't worry over it.
I had to tell the friend with twins that she had to clean up the area we were in. She was a bit of a cluttered person, well honestly a very cluttered person, thus I didn't feel comfortable watching year and a half old baby's in that environment. She did clean up an area for us. We had the old baby gate to keep that area for the twins safe. Had she refused to do this, well then I would not have baby-sat for her.
A lot of visually impaired people have children very successfully. Just like a sighted person I have to be very vigilant with a child. I've known sighted people that pay less attention to there children than I do, and they get in a lot of trouble not knowing what there kids are doing. My sister-in-law use to say that I knew what her kids were doing more than she did, as she tends to zone out a lot. One time they actually tipped my oven over when they lived with me. They stood on the oven door, and my sister-in-law was the one watching them then, not me. God has blessed me, I've never had a child get injured when I've been baby-sitting them.
My mom will tell anyone that I'm the best baby-sitter in the family. I don't know about that, but I do the best I can. My brother's 3 boys whom are 13, 11, and 8 will tell anyone that aunt Vicki is the toughest baby-sitter they've ever had, because she makes them mind, LOL! I guess that's good, because if I gave off the impression I would let them get away with a lot they would, especially my brother's boys, LOL! When you get 3 little boys together, even still at the ages they are now you have to be on your darn toes, LOL!
I'll be happy to answer any questions if anyone has any. |
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& I love how optimistic you are.
