Hello, I am a little boy who only sees right with his heart...
Which doesn't make my parent's daily life any easier. So I'm blind and different (mentally speaking).
This blog was born in french during autumn 2003 and is now progressively being translated in your language.
New articles will therefore appear on a regular basis.
DISCLAIMER
... my apologies to the people who hadn't understood this yet, all articles on this website are created and written by myself (his dad).
Lou is currently unable to do it,, just like he is to this day unable to grasp the concept of a "computer", "internet", or to focus for a long period of time on a conversation. Only time will tell us if we manage to integrate him completely in the world in which he lives.
Therefore all stories, despite relating actual facts, are obviously biased by my interpretation of his behavior. But having known him for over five years, I don't think I'm getting it wrong.
Thank you to the "Roi Baudoin" foundation ( "Parcours hors pistes" ). The new design, hosting and translations were partially made possible by their financial support.
Many thanks to Marco Pappalardo et Laetitia Bouet for the translation.
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wednesday 29 june 2005
108. I must say...
(the little prince and the tyrants -2- continued)
I must say, to be completely honest, that I did enter my "no phase" a few weeks ago. I say "no" to everything, about everything, about anything (including the things I like) : just to see ... who's boss !
No, I don't want to go to the market with daddy on sunday (we went anyway and I had lots of fun : the funfair was there with the merry-go-rounds) No, I don't want to go to bed, take my bath, eat, play, obey...
....so the tension rises and my parents deploy the big artillery : they can't afford a trench war or to let me have the last word. Even worse, I can tell they have formed and alliance and are sticking together. They use the big artillery right away : deep voice, and as a last resort, force ! ....And I can't compete with that. Good thing I found my favorite battlefield : the staircase.
That's it ! No doubt about it. Maybe you too had felt this coming, post after post : daddy and mommy have decided to make my life a living hell. Help ! Hello, Child Focus? Abused kids helpline !
I don't know what they ate for breakfast (lion or mad cow ?), whatever it was, the confrontation is turning into a trench war. It's World War Four. Do you realize how unfair that is ? Me, a little five year old boy, handicapped, blind, versus two adults. It's not fair !
I'm becoming aware of "myself", a few years behind other kids, a moment ever so important in my life. But instead of leaving me in my self-determination, they're putting barriers and stop signs everywhere ! I'm not making this up, just keep reading : no more hiding behind my "little dog Courage" character, no more leading the conversation by imposing the questions I would like to be vasked, and no more saying "no" all the time. And I'm supposed to stand by and do nothing ? I have a nobility title : I'm a little prince, that is to say a future king ! Imagine if, as an adult, I didn't have any subjects left at my service...
The worst part about all this is that mommy and daddy keep using the excuse that "I'm just a little boy", "I'm not the boss", "I must do what grown ups tell me to", etc... In short, according to them I should smile and accept my destitution. My answer is therefore clear : "No means no !"
When I visit the statistics website which analyzes your comings and goings on this blog (well yes, I also like to know our "readers" and guess who they are), I discover things sometimes amazing, sometimes peculiar ! - First of all your geographical location, dear readers : I discover that besides Belgium, France, Canada, Switzerland, and Luxembourg (quite logically sorted by importance), some visitors are also from Italy, Spain, England , United States, Australia (hello my "fanclub" from autralia ! ;-), Ireland, Austria, Burkinafasso, Japan, and ... Colombia.
- Funnier yet : "keywords" used by search engines (Google,Yahoo!, etc...) : Of course, the words "Lou" and "little prince" show up quite frequently. On the other hand, I would like to see the face of those who typed : "chiwawa pictures", "I can't see my hard drives anymore", "I'm having a laugh", "benjamin bioley", "drawings of lice", "scary drawings", "playing with disney", "the three little pigs", "Mother Anne's
kitchen". And even more the face of those who searched for : "kinky place in belgium", "poop", "small
pecker", "adult touching a kid's pecker" (!), "wiener". Me thinks they must have been a little surprised and didn't stay long on the site. (P.S.: just shows search engines sometimes have funny ways of summarizing a site, because I checked and indeed, if you type on Google "adult touching a kid's pecker", this site shows up in 3rd
position, despite the fact that no such sentence is present on this website). Go figure ! And since our motto is "better to laugh about it than cry about it" ...
As amazing as it may sound, colours have meaning for blind people ! My parents for example know a sweet blind person who loves to wear a red sweater because it's "warm and flashy". So despite appearances colours have codes : cold, warm, flashy, discreet, etc... You seeing people tend to forget that kind of perceptions ! We can nonetheless "feel" the colour of our clothes by the way they absorb sunlight : try wearing black and standing in the sun on a hot summer and you'll see ! The opposite is also true for white.
Speaking of which, attached is a picture of a painting that decorates the living room of my house. This painting was made by a blind belgian shaman / artist living in California (Josée Andréa). She paints "by touching" and picks her colours by "feeling". In the case of this particular painting, the hair is golden blond. This was specifically chosen by JosÈe. And truly it is an astounding colour : it changes from "gold" to "blond" according to the light.
Just goes to show that you can see things without seeing them !
The other day Eva asked mommy if she could do some painting. As soon as I heard that I demanded to be allowed to do the same ( whereas at school Marie-Anne must sometimes fight for me to agree to do some.) So I painted my first "picture" by chosing the colours myself : "Mommy, I would like some... green, orange, and red..." And here's the result. I really liked it !
If you are long time readers, you must know I love playing with words and sounds. Being at the countryside, last week, daddy told me a little reptitive story that was really in context : the cow ! Do you know it ?
"The cow has two byproducts : milk and dung. Milk ? Doesn't matter, but dung is either one of two things : it's either on the field, or on the road. If it's on the field, it doesn't matter. But if it's on the road, it's either one of two things : it's either dry, or it's fresh. If it's dry, it doesn't matter. But if it's fresh, either one of two things can happen : you can either see it, or you can't see it. If you can see it, it doesn't matter. But if you can't see it, either one of two things can happen : either you don't step on it, or you do step on it. If you don't step on it, it doesn't matter. But if you do step on it, either one of two things can happen : you either don't notice, or you do notice. If you don't notice it doesn't matter. But if you do notice, yell : the COW ! ... has two
byproducts : milk and dung. " (and here we go again) I love it ! Daddy explained what dung was (and the rest) so I could get a vague idea of what the song is about. Since then, we regularly tell the "cow" story together. Daddy starts one sentence... and I complete it : Daddy : "Milk ?" Me : "It doesn't matter !" (etc) Sometimes I even do it on my own. I must admit I do get confused though. Me : (...) " it's either in the field, or on the road. If it's on the road it doesn't matter, but if it's on the road, either one of two things can happen, you either step on it ... (etc)" My favourite moment ? The transition when we loop back to the beginning of course ! Me : " ... if you notice yell (and I yell) The Cow ! (I leave a blank, then get back into it) ... has two byproducts, milk and dung ..."
(the drawing is from a children's tale realised and illustrated by daddy) : See the tale (in french).
Daddy tried using his explanation about leaves falling as an excuse to make me appreciate walking around on them. Kids love it... so why not me !
The first experience wasn't exactly thrilling : I walked a little on this unstable ground. It's just like sand : most blind or visually impaired people don't like walking on "soft" or uneven surfaces. Makes sense. On the other hand I loved hearing daddy's footsteps as he kicked leaves around while walking in a circle around me. Another one of his brilliant ideas, he's not about to give me a break !
When autumn comes, leaves fall. Stating the obvious I hear you say ? Well you're forgetting I'm blind.
I told you already about the long walks in the forest with daddy where he would place my hands on trees so I could understand what a "tree" is. Except here, even by touching the leaves, it's still difficult for me to understand that a tree is full of these weird soft things moving at the tips of branches (I don't like leaves very much). Yup !
So autmumnal walks in the forest or the countryside are the perfect occasion to explain a few things to me:
Daddy : "In autumn, the sun rises later and sets earlier. And since it's the sun that warms us up, it gets colder and colder. So the leaves on trees get cold too and they fall." (it would be a little too complicated to tell me about light - I don't know what that is -, photosynthesis, etc...). And so daddy grabs the chance to relate all this to other facts I already know : - that you can't sit in the grass anymore because it stays wet (see post "my manual") - that besides hours, days, and months (which are already hard for me to conceptualize), there are seasons.
But daddy is being a bit ambitious with me, and as a result I summarize all this rather crudely : "Leaves fall because it's winter and the sun is cold". And since I'm not entirely sure I understood and I like to hear daddy explain about things, I ask him : "Now it's daddy's turn to talk about the leaves..."
When I'm ill, it's a national affair ! It's like dealing with a baby (despite the fact I'm five years old) : since I have trouble expressing myself clearly, the only thing I can do is cry or get angry because I'm hurting. These are the only symptoms of my general state, besides fever or external symptoms (runny nose etc...) So figuring out what's wrong isn't easy for my parents. At best I'll say "it hurts", but without specifying where.
... just as I promised : here's the picture of me when I'm walking around with my hat over my
eyes ! When I told you I looked just like a little ghost ... a little black ghost ! (cfr. "When it's cold") picture :