Impoverished senses

One night #2 and I played a game. We often go into his bedroom, just before bed time, to quiet him down and get him ready to sleep. I close the door with the hall light still on, seeping just a bit under the door, and let him free. Normally, he wanders a bit, then turns back to fall in my lap. He repeats this exercise for a while, until he gets sleepy.

That night we varied the practice a bit. There was a small soft ball on the floor, so we played fetch with the ball, tossed or lobbed against the door. He's very familiar with the layout of the room, so it's pretty safe for him to move around in the dark, though it forces him to depend upon his memory much more than usual.

Since the room was dark, he wasn't able to rely on his normal procedure of simply watching where the ball goes. He could see shadows, and highlights at times. But he couldn't really see the ball in the air. So he had to depend upon the tell-tale thump of the ball hitting the door, to help him localize it. Then he had to use his sight in a more refined way than he is used to.

This game allowed him to hone these skills, both audition used for localization, and visual acuity from impoverished stimuli. He seemed to like it quite a bit. He would fetch the ball to me, drop it in my lap, then turn and face the door, anxiously awaiting the next thump. On another night, we used one of daddy's slippers (to make it a bit more challenging, but mostly because it was what was handy).

Needless to say, bedtime took a bit longer on those nights, as each time I thought we'd finished the game, he dutifully found the ball or the slipper, and carried it back to me for one more round.