January 6th: learning to see without eyes
Dear Diary,
Today is the day that I teach Wren how to see without being dependent on others. I carved her a cane out of hollow wood that would make a sound when she tapped it along the ground. I was pretty proud of my work. We spent all day working with that thing. She soon grew to not really need to touch me to know where I was at. She used her ears to hear my voice and my scent to distinguish my location.
I had everyone place a game of hide and seek with her so she could practice her smell. Po hid in the kitchen while Lunch was cooking. Shifu was in the Dragon Grotto. Flicka, Minzhe, and Zinnia were in the courtyard. Monkey and Mantis were at the Peach tree. Viper was in her room. Crane was in the scroll room. Tigress was in the training hall. Zeng hid in the dungeons.
Then we practiced her hearing after lunch. I had everyone scream in the hall of heros and she had to focus on my voice . I had her by the doors and I was by the pool. She had to walk over to me from the doors to the pool. It took her a total of 10 tries to pinpoint my voice at a normal talking voice in the din. We were so proud of her. Po made a dessert to celebrate. We waited a little bit for her to rest before I had her practice her sense of touch. I would have Po make a really nasty feeling pudding and then I would hide all sorts of objects in it. She loved playing in the pudding. Then I had her run her paws all over the palace. We made markers in Chinese characters to label where things were at for her. She loved doing that too. It didn't take her long to know which characters were which object or room. We ended the day resting after teaching her to see without using her eyes. I do believe, dear book, that she can be independent on her own now. She might need some help of course, but she can do a lot on her own.