Contacts.....

At Ben's eye doctor appointment earlier in the month, he told the doctor he was interested in getting contacts. I was surprised by this... like a LOT. But, Tom had apparently told him contacts would make playing sports so much easier, and he had latched on to that idea and was determined. So she sent us to another doctor for contacts fitting. I was still doubtful he would go through with it... and he was definitely nervous yesterday when we got there.

She put the first one in and he said, "Whoa... everything is in high definition!" when it popped into place, but then he immediately wanted it out. At that point I thought there was no way this was going to work. LOL.

Clearly, I underestimated his determination. After she checked positioning and fit whatnot, she took it out and then took him to a special area of the office to practice putting them in and taking him out.  By the time we were done, he was a pro and completely sold. He was annoyed he could only wear them for four hours yesterday. HA!

So  contacts were a success. Who'd a thought it?! The kid I had to sit on to administer eye drops when he was little! Sticking his finger into his eyeball?!

Glasses....

We finally picked up Jonathan's glasses yesterday. He put them on in the store and four seconds later started rubbing his eyes and saying they hurt.  (to be expected, since they are correcting a muscle weakness)

So I had him wear them for an hour on, hour off a few times yesterday... once they were on, I'd let him play an iPad game for a little bit to make him forget about them (plus it forced him to focus on something close up, which is what the glasses are for) He did well! I'm hopeful he'll wear them a little longer each day....

All's Well...

Jonathan had a great second day of school yesterday. Walked in like he was leading a parade. Waved to people, said hello.... went right into the classroom. Told me when I picked him up that he had fun! YAY!

Had a conference with Simon's teacher already.... seems things are going okay! She said he's getting his papers where they need to be (huge, HUGE issue last year). She wanted to know more about what he struggled with last year and how to draw him out a little. (he doesn't often speak to teachers unless spoken to) She did say he is raising his hand now and participating, so that's good. He's also starting and finishing classwork without prompting.  I really, really like her.... her classroom structure and the way she naturally goes about keeping the kids on task and prompting with visual cues is really helpful for him. I'm optimistic about continuing to make lots of forward strides with him and school this year!

Ben is doing well... though I continue to be sort of unimpressed by 5th grade. He didn't even have any homework last night.... or much at all on any other night. Apparently there was a sub in math, which explained that one.... but he rarely has any other homework other than math. Really? Middle school is going to be a jarring experience for him if the demands don't pick up a little here....  They've implemented this online grading system, so I can check in on his grades a couple times a week. I like it and it's really helpful to keep tabs on quizzes and things. Simon has this too, but it really makes no sense for the grades below fourth. So the teachers aren't even sure what they are going to do with it for the little guys.

Waiting on Jonathan's glasses to come in. He keeps asking about them. LOL.

OH! We are also waiting on a swingset to be delivered for the backyard! We hemmed and hawed about this for a few years, but finally caved. The boys helped customize it... Simon asked for a "pirate bridge" (like the ramp thing with ropes on the side), so we added that... and Ben wanted three swings,  so we swapped out a trapeze swing for a third swing. He also wanted monkey bars, so we made sure the model we picked had those. Jonathan is excited about the slide. :)

Other than that, no news around here.... just trying to get my life organized lately!

Two for Three....

After Jonathan's preschool vision screening in February, I got a phone call. It was the woman who ran it calling to tell me that something weird had cropped up during the screening.... that Jonathan had different visual acuity in each eye. (or something like that) The discrepancy is an indication of strabismus, she said. This caught my attention because this is why I had eye surgery when I was 18 months old and then wore glasses until I was 10. At the advice of our pediatrician, we had the two older kids screened really early by an ophthalmologist to make sure they showed no sign of it since tends to run in families. They were both fine... Ben is near-sighted now and wears glasses, but that's unrelated. Simon will eventually need glasses for the same reason...

I had planned on taking Jonathan soon anyway, but the vision people recommended I take him a.s.a.p.
I had never noticed any eye crossing at ALL, plus, I knew he hadn't been especially cooperative for the screening AND the other two kids had been fine, so I procrastinated a little.... between other commitments and the doctor's busy schedule, we didn't end up going until today.

He did great. Complied with everything they asked him to do.  Even handled the eye drops like a pro!

Well, turns out, he is far-sighted! His one eye turns in a bit when he is trying to focus on things that are close. She said it's really mild and that I never would have noticed it until it got worse, (which it would have) and that it was an EXCELLENT catch on the part of the vision screening people.

We left with a prescription for glasses, which she says will correct the problem and he'll eventually grow out of it, hopefully....

I took him out to lunch for being so good and the glasses place was right next door, so we went and and took care of it while we were out. They'll be in next week! He chose little red ones.... super cute! :)
He was mad we couldn't leave with them today, so I think getting him to wear them might not be an issue!  Whew!

Seriously though... how cute is this!? He was very serious about the whole thing.... but he was really happy... don't let the lack of smile fool you! ;)

New Glasses

We picked up Ben's new glasses a couple days ago. His eye doctor appointment earlier in the week showed a mild change in his prescription. When he put them on though, he said, "Whoa. Everything is clear again!!" LOL.

Jonathan is next up in September, since he flunked his preschool eye exam in the spring. 

Simon seems okay, but should probably still go for a checkup since it has been two years. During his first exam when he was about 2-3, she warned us he'll be near-sighted like Tom and Ben, so it's just a waiting game as to when he'll get the glasses too. I'll take him later in the fall.  I did have him try on Ben's old glasses and had him look at some things far away which he said he could see better... but who knows?

Anyway, Ben picked out his own new glasses. He liked these because they look like Tom's. ;)  Simon keeps calling him Harry Potter.

The Glasses....

I really need to take a better picture today.... and get this child a haircut.... he loves the glasses though and wore them the whole rest of yesterday. He kept announcing all the different things he could see better. I tried them on and clearly my prescription needs to be much stronger than his, seeing has how I STILL can't see things with them on. LOL.

 He