New Eyes

It’s been so super crazy at my house this week. And for no particular reason. I had like 100 loads of laundry.  I had Cub Scout Pack Meeting. We had dinner guests 2 different nights.  And also what seemed like a never ending list of errands. I drove 160 miles in 2 days running errands. That’s country livin for ya. Unfortunately, all of this craziness is not very conducive to blogging. One of these days, I’ll learn how to pre-blog and schedule intentionally instead of just blogging in the moment.

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you’ll know that I also found out that my 3-year old needed glasses. Just about everywhere we went, I had gobs of people ask me about how I found out at such a young age. It’s definitely not normal to worry about your child’s vision this young. Most kids don’t find out that they need glasses until they get into the school system. My daughter got glasses a year ago when she was in second grade. My middle son has never had his eyes checked. So, what made me decide to get my 3-year old’s eyes checked?

Honestly, the answer isn’t because I was a super observant mom and noticed a problem. After we got his eyes checked, I was still amazed that he even needs glasses. He acts like he can see everything! He constantly points thing out that he sees from a distance. He plays games up close on the iPad and never seems to act like it bothers him. He just seems like a normal 3-year old to me.

A few months ago, one of my friends asked me if Logan has a lazy eye. Ummm…no. Not even close. I wasn’t sure why she was even asking. I decided that he has big beautiful eyes and that’s why she thought that. Plus, if he’s looking at something sideways, of course one of he eyes would gravitate toward the middle. She obviously didn’t know what she was talking about. My children are perfect, right?

A little while later, I had another friend ask the same thing. And I’ll be honest. I was kind of offended. Who asks that to someone? Hello….filter! My kids are my pride and joy! Even slightly offensive comments bring out my mama bear instincts.

I was a little discouraged. Was there something that I wasn’t seeing? More than one person pointed it out, so there must be something worth looking into. So, I finally scheduled an eye appointment. I just went to our regular eye doctor, but I’ve had a few friends mention that I should have taken him to a Pediatric Ophthalmologist. I didn’t even know those existed. But, I do think that our regular doctor did a stellar job. I still can’t believe they charge the same fee to examine a 3-year old as everyone else. It’s a lot more difficult.

His appointment lasted over an hour. It didn’t help that he was a little star struck by the doctor and kept nervously giggling instead of answering questions. Kids this little obviously can’t read, so he had to examine him a lot differently. He held up a stick with pictures on it and would ask Logan if the butterfly was on the top or bottom. Then, he had him look through the gigantic exam glasses. Not to mention shining lights in his eyes about a million times. He dilated Logan’s eyes and did more and more tests to determine his exact prescription. I still can’t believe how patient my boy was. Oh, and I learned that a good eye doctor can determine a person’s prescription just by looking inside their eyes. Before that, I was convinced that advanced eye technology was on the way to replacing actual doctors.

So, what was the diagnosis? He is far sighted and has been primarily using his right eye to focus. His left eye muscles are weaker and when he tries to focus on close things, that eye is used less and goes slightly off centered. Like one millimeter. He doesn’t have a lazy eye (and when the doctor said that, my inner mama bear was screaming “See? I was right!!”) BUT, if he doesn’t wear his glasses, his left eye muscles could get weaker and it could cause major problems down the road. I also learned that once your eyes are done developing in early childhood, problems like that are irreversible.

By the time the appointment was done, Logan was incredibly tired and wanted absolutely nothing to do with trying on glasses. I had to just choose a pair and cross my fingers that they would look good on his face. I was pretty worried that he wouldn’t wear them after he refused so adamantly to try them on. But, as soon as his new glasses came in, he was so excited. Of course, we had been telling him how awesome glasses are. He’s left them on all the time ever since. He loves all of the attention he’s been getting from just about everyone. Even strangers at the store comment on how cool his glasses are. Yesterday, he told me that his super glasses turn him into a super hero. That’s my boy.