Little Professor

So my little man needs glasses. Even thought I knew that day would probably come eventually, you could have knocked me over with a feather when we found out this week.

Quite some time ago, I noticed that one of his eyes was crossing ever so slightly. It was so slight that Chris didn't even notice it when I pointed it out. He told me I was being Crazy Mom and I was seeing things. It wasn't until a few days later when he did it again that Chris noticed. See, mom IS always right. ;)

His wandering eye would only appear occasionally. In fact, I haven't seen him do it for weeks now. We wanted to be sure it wasn't something serious so we brought it up at a recent routine exam. We were referred to Dr. Nick Sala. Being the only pediatric opthamoligist in the Erie area, it's usually hard to get an appointment at that office. We were VERY lucky that there was a cancellation or we would have been waiting until April!

We went in half expecting to hear them tell us that Alex had a lazy eye. I was prepared for patching, etc.
Chris had a lazy eye and wore glasses during his first grade year. Chris' sister wore a patch AND glasses when she was in elementary school and still wears glasses now. Chris' mother had a lazy eye when she was a child and two of Chris' uncles had lazy eyes when they were young as well. Phew. Genetics aren't on this kid's side!
Nearly everyone on my side of the family wears glasses for nearsightedness.

When Dr. Sala told us that Alex was farsighted, I was shocked. When he wrote that prescription for GLASSES, I was even more shocked. It turns out that the occasional crossing we were seeing is simply his way of trying to bring things into focus better. (On a side note, it was good to learn that he does NOT have a lazy eye and he sees the same in both eyes.)

But my not-yet-two-year-old in GLASSES?!?

I played it up like it was the coolest thing in the world to wear glasses but when we got to the car, I cried. Chris looked at me like I was Crazy Mom again. I was just so shocked and I didn't want to think that my little boy was less than perfect. I know. Stupid.

I just started to think about how mean kids can be. I didn't want him to be picked on. I also didn't want people to look at him like he had some sort of handicap. They're just glasses for crying out loud! On top of all of that, I was worried that he wouldn't even wear them to begin with. We're talking about the kid that has had super cool Lightning McQueen sun glasses for nearly a year and JUST put them on for the first time a few weeks ago. He is soooo resistant to change and things that are out of his comfort zone. It takes him a while to warm up to the idea. He is getting better with that as he gets older but glasses are a huge deal in the comfort zone category.

We ended up at Walmart Vision Center to pick out glasses. While Kidspecs certainly had a wide selection of frames for the little guy, we just simply can't afford to pay $100+ for frames. Maybe when he gets older and his head and face aren't changing every six months! LOL

He wasn't overly thrilled with trying frames but he did it. I kept saying, "Too big." when we were trying them on so now that's what he says. I assured him that the glasses that they are making will be just for him and they will fit perfectly.

Looking back on the whole thing makes me glad that I was Crazy Mom. If I hadn't noticed that eye that ONE day, I wouldn't have mentioned it at his appointment (I don't think the Dr. was paying enough attention to catch it on her own...that's another blog) then we never would have gotten the referral and we wouldn't be where we are today.

I'm so thankful that we caught his vision problem when we did. Kids that young don't know that things are supposed to look differently (especially if that's how they've always seen them). They just learn to adapt and move on. I know that once he's able to see the world a little clearer, he's going to be so thrilled.

Please have your child(ren)'s vision screened. It's not too early. The advancements in this area are have come so far! Alex never complained about reading. He LOVES to read! He loves to play with his cars, trucks and trains and he can spot a lady bug wandering across the carpet even when no one else can. We had no reason to believe that he couldn't see well. It was ONE little thing that made us want to be sure. If we had ignored it, who knows....

It's hard to think that your child won't be "perfect" but, trust me, they still will be. Don't wait until they start school or complain that they can't see to read or play. Be proactive.