Oh, The LAG, The LAG. As those of you who follow me on Twitter know, I woke up at three in the morning today, thanks to my body’s insistence on cleaving to False European Time. Alexa Abroad! will resume tomorrow, but today is for complaining, about The Lag, and also about the fact that once again, an appointment did not go as planned, and surprise! Simone is getting glasses.
She’s not wild about the idea, if her behavior during the fitting is to be believed, and when the ophthalmologist (I never get that first “h” in the right place) mentioned that she will call in a prescription to be used if Simone does not take to the glasses after a week or so, I assumed she was referring to some zoological-strength tranquilizer, but no. Simone is extremely farsighted (I think that is right–it’s the opposite of what I am, and I am the sort where I cannot see things far away, though “far” may be a bit of a stretch, as if you were sitting across the table and I was not wearing my glasses you would seem a menacingly faceless monster), and apparently farsighted babies learn to compensate by working fiercely with their eye muscles, and at first Simone will keep compensating even with the glasses on, making them seem too strong and causing her (based upon recent data) to whip the frames off and fling them to the side. So the prescription the ophthalmologist issued, just in case, is for eye drops that will force her eye muscles to relax, rendering her truly unable to see without the glasses. Thus (goes the reasoning), she will realize that wearing her lenses enables her to yank at my hair more efficiently, and decide to put up with the annoyance of having a plastic thing sprawled across her face in exchange for improved vision. Because that would be the logical thing to do, and after all, babies are known for their love of and respect for logic and rational arguments.
Simone’s inaugural pair of spectacles will be ready before the end of the week, so we shall see. I have never felt the particular warmth that many seem to for toddlers in glasses, likely because of the insufferable brat in Jerry Maguire (which I never even managed to finish, so violently did I detest that plucky, spiky-haired, bespectacled kid). But while Simone will undoubtedly look odd to me at first in her (bendy, purple) frames (I didn’t want pink, and while the blue was nice, I am tired of people mistaking her for a boy), it will at least give her a veneer of intelligence when she is doing stupid baby things like smacking herself in the skull with a maraca.
Until tomorrow!
{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
Been there (times two), so I know the sting of this one. Hugs.
I found this site several months back. As they put it, this site “is a community for family and friends of small children in glasses. We share our experiences, tips, tricks, and pictures.”
http://littlefoureyes.com/
My husband had two eye surgeries by the time he was one, and glasses shortly thereafter. And back then, there was no fun technology, so they are cokebottles rimmed with thick black. Not for nothing, but I think his toddler pictures are ADORABLE. Shhhh.
Here’s hoping it goes smoothly, because Simone deserves to have clear vision, even if she protests at first. And she is so adorable, I’m sure that the glasses will only add to that (or at the very least, not detract in any way, shape or form). Just keep her away from Cameron Crowe.
Plastic, bendy and purple? You must have gotten the right kind! I was going to come suggest that you get the kind that look sorta like aviator goggles with the strap around the back, but I think you already did. If not, they are worth the extra expense. My baby sisters wouldn’t keep anything else on no matter what attachments were added. Once they had been wearing them for about a year or so they were able to switch to more regular type of glasses.
I shall patiently await photos of a bespectacled Simone.
I wear glasses, you wear glasses, Scott wears glasses … Simone must know that all the cool kids are doing it.
Hope she goes ok, I’m sure she will look gorgeous – as for the doctors “logic” re. droppers?? As we say often down here in Australia … WHAT THE??
How in god’s name do they determine a prescription for a baby/toddler? Did Simone have a special baby way of signaling whether she could see better out of lens 1 or 2, 2 or 3, 4 or 5? I can’t imagine my son, who is just a little older than Simone, keeping glasses on so I’ll be interested to hear how the drops work. As an extremely near-sighted person, I’ve always been jealous of the far-sighted; instead of spending hundreds of dollars on frames they can’t just go to Walgreen’s and pick up a pair. I’m sure Simone will look awesome in her purple specs.
Simone will look adorable in anything, so I’m sure she’ll be really cute in glasses, too.
Maybe the glasses will help with that whole falling off the couch thing. I bet she looks utterly adorable in them.
If it’s any reassurance, I was exceptionally far sighted as a child. I had to have glasses at age two (and should have had them earlier). Apparently, I grew to love them so much, my mom says I tried to sleep in them on a regular basis. I had a corrective surgery at at 5 (muscles), and my eyesight improved to the point where I did not need glasses at all at age 16. And all of this was well before all the new fangledeyness of today’s ophthalmologists,
I’m betting Simone will do great in them, once she realizes what they do for her.
my oldest needed glasses at 3, but didn’t get them until 5 for numerous reasons. thankfully, she wasn’t in the fling-them-off-of-my-head-phase. i hope it goes well and she realizes just how pretty you are when she keeps them on.
it’s make it better, little darlin’. tell her i said that.
My daughter Zoe was also diagnosed as farsighted (farsighted is correct, that’s what most infants and toddlers are) when she was 9 months old, and got her glasses at 14 months old. It is hard to get a baby to leave glasses on, no question about it – as you’ve already seen. For what it’s worth, though, Zoe also threw an absolute fit at the glasses fitting, and while it took about 2 weeks for her to be willing to leave them on, it was much easier than that day fitting the glasses. There is something to the theory that babies will leave their glasses on once they realize they can see better – it’s just not fast. I’ve heard of the idea of using atropine drops to get babies to wear glasses, but I hope you don’t have to go there. Eye drops are no fun either.
She’ll look awesome in her glasses. It takes a moment or two to get used to, and then all of a sudden, you find that she looks strange without the glasses.
Stacie, thanks for linking to little four eyes.
Ann
Well, I’m sure she’ll look ok, but what I don’t understand is the bit about the eyedrops? I mean, isn’t it better if she works the eye muscles and compensates? I’m asking only because my laser eye doc has mentioned that if I do some eye exercises involving those muscles that my sight will improve and my surgery (when I eventually get it) will turn out better. (It won’t cure my nearsightedness or someone’s farsightedness, but it helps, according to him.)
I mean, if she had a weak leg, you’d be doing physio on it, soooo, aren’t eyes the same?
Seems like earlier is better though. I have a friend whose former preemie got glasses at age three and you couldn’t keep them on her. Finally she had some therapy where she had her glasses forcibly stuck on her head and the therapist held her arms to her body while she screamed for three hours and then the child wore her glasses ever after without complaint. Now I personally allow my baby who needs some physical therapy to be in a day care with bigger more mobile babies who might sit down on her, but that is the limit of my abilities in regards to torture based treatment. The drops sound OK? Best of luck, Flotsam family. I’ve always been attracted to people with glasses. I love the nerds!
Can I do the Spectacular gag again? Can I?!
Simone will look adorable. And I love nerds, too!
How on earth did you even suspect, and how do you test for that type of problem?
Thank you for always making me laugh. I truly admire your wit, patience and positive outlook. God bless you and Simone. I can’t wait to see new pictures of the newly spectacled Simone.
Who are we kidding – we KNOW she is going to be adorable no matter what!!
Maybe this week try with some cheapo sunglasses and she is she will tolerate them on her face? I’m just talking out my ass here, feel free to completely ignore me.
My best friend’s baby had to wear glasses, and she hated them too. I’m not sure how frequently she actually wore them. Then, miraculously, her vision corrected itself, and she no longer needs the glasses. May Simone have a similar breakthrough! Because apparently it is a pain trying to make a baby wear glasses.
Aaaaaawwww, Simone in her new purple spectacles!!! I can’t wait to see her! How cute.
We’re going through something similar with my 2 1/2 year old daughter. She was diagnosed with strobismus in one eye (basically a lazy eye) so we have to use drops in her good eye to dilate the pupil so her vision is blurred. It’s supposed to force her to use her bad eye more…and then in a month it’s re-evaluated to see if any improvements have been made. If not, it’s likely there is surgery in her future…and probably glasses too. It’s not fun dealing with this kind of stuff and for you it’s all on top of everything else you’ve gone through. Thank you for sharing your life with us. Your positive outlook helps me deal with life!
Simone will be just fine glasses or not. She’s got one tough mama!
simone would look cute wearing a brown paper bag, so I know she will rock the purple glasses like a pro!
Does Scott have teeth? :-)
My daughter got glasses at 14 months for the same reason and I thought it was going to be a nightmare. Her fitting for the glasses was a disaster. My stubborn daughter surprised me though. It only took a week for her to figure out that she could see so much better with the glasses on. She also started walking as soon as she started wearing them consistently. Turns out it’s hard to learn to walk if you can’t see. We had no idea her eyesight was so bad. We saw a specialist because she needed surgery for a blocked tear duct. We’re so thankful that it was discovered when she was so young. We have friends who didn’t have eye problems diagnosed until their kids were 7 and 8 weren’t learning to read.
We’ve also done patching and the atropine drops and that also went better than I imagined it would.
Simone will figure it out eventually and will look so cute in her purple glasses.
Purple is my favorite color. Wish I could sport purple glasses…but they wouldn’t go with my shoes. :-) Bottom line, she’s the cutest kid on the web and her glasses will just add to her usual fashion statement!
Simone will rock with glasses! I’ve worn them since 2nd. grade!
Aww poor thing, I heard the battle is the first few weeks and they adjust, I hope thats true for you…. because ambloyia (lazy eye) runs in my family my baby was just tested and is fine at this point, but we will do yearly checks to make sure….my son is going in for his eye exam soon. My niece is currently in 1st grade and having to do the patch thing, in my humble opinion I would rather fight this battle with my kids young…..I happen to think my niece looks BETTER with her glasses, they are just so darn cute!
Aurelia, it turns out that eyes are the same in some cases, but not with accommodation of moderate to severe farsightedness, especially in kids. When kids accommodate their vision, it puts a lot of strain on those muscles and can eventually pull their eyes out of alignment (strabismus), which is what my daughter has – I don’t know if Simone’s eyes are crossing, or they’re getting her in glasses early to prevent crossing. When their eyes aren’t aligned, the brain will start to suppress the vision from one eye so as not to see double, and that can lead to lazy eye (amblyopia) and vision loss in one eye, or loss of binocular vision and depth perception. Luckily, catching it early is awesome, and the treatment is usually glasses, which while difficult (and expensive and a little annoying – glasses get crazy dirty when little kids eat), is really not all that bad.
Good luck, Alexa
Toomuchstrong, we ended up needing the surgery for our daughter at 22 months. It is not fun, but it was successful for us. Good luck!
My 7 yo has worn them since 2 1/2 and she doesn’t take them off for ANYTHING. Baths, sleeping, whatever. If we do remove them to, say, clean them (they get amazingly gross on a child…), she rubs her eyes and won’t look at anything until they are back on.
While 2 1/2 is MUCH older than 16 months, I still think Simone will, eventually, be fine. Drops will definitely help her adjust!
Good luck!
I too had to wear glasses as a wee tot. I think I am only scarred by the oft repeated story from my mother about how she cried when they put the glasses on me because she thought they ruined my face. (Just a tip… if you do have this reaction, don’t tell Simone until she is about 45. As opposed to, say, 7. This will save her much grief in her preteen years.) Of course, I am hoping focal fashion has much since the early 80′s….
Can’t wait to hear more about the trip!
Elise just got her first pair of glasses 2 months ago and I was shocked at how quickly she decided wearing them is a good thing. We’ve had a few moments when she absolutely refuses to wear them, but for the most part it’s not too bad. What I can’t get over is how much we paid for the glasses. Seriously they better survive a damn tank running over them!
My youngest is far-sighted and got glasses at twenty-one months. I was worried that keeping them on would be an epic battle, but he took to them right away and seemed enchanted with the clear vision, stopped falling on his face as much, and now at three will go and GET them, berating me, if I fail to put them on his face the MOMENT I get him out of bed. So maybe it won’t be that bad…
Lucky girl! When I got my first glasses the only cool ones were pearly cat-eyes with rhinestones in the corners. I was not permitted. (I was 8).
Purple is a huge step up. Glasses for babies who need them is huger.
Good luck with implementation!
X
Supa
Wow. I was all ready to be woefully unsympathetic about the whole jetlag thing, what with having flown trans-Atlantic with a not-quite-two-year old on my lap only to end up with an unplanned overnight stay in the JFK Ramada (though the landing on the Hudson, which came about a week after my return, was a nice reminder that, um, there are worse things than being grounded), but then I got to the thought of trying to “persuade” my toddler to wear eyeglasses (a task I’ve not yet been instructed to undertake; who knows what the future holds?) and … I feel nothing but sympathy. Though I’m sure Simone will look lovely bespectacled, and look forward to seeing pictures.
Um, welcome home.
Holy crap! I didn’t start wearing glasses until 6th grade, and found them moderately annoying THEN. Simone has a lot to look forward to in the months to come, methinks. I know everything will work out in the end, though.
I am new to your site as of a few weeks ago, but I have to de-lurk and say your daughter is SO.CUTE I can barely stand it!
I hope the glasses transition goes as smoothy as possible!
Thank you Ann Z, that makes sense!
OK, I don’t know just how farsighted Simone is but as a pediatric optometrist, I am not a huge fan of atropine drops to force a kid to get used to glasses. There are other approaches. One way is to prescribe the strongest RX that a baby can adjust to and then slowly strengthen them over time. This sounds like you will be going thru more lenses and you are right, but babies tend to go thru lots of lenses anyway. I really think this is so much more comfortable than drops which do not allow a baby to see up close for weeks at a time. (Ever been dilated) and I think is actually more likely to cause focusing problems. That is based on just my clinical impressions and not studies. Anyway I’m rambling and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me!
Mikki
If you ever need some good news about how well micro-premmies can do in life, People Magazine just had a story on several micro-premmies from Mpls Children’s Hospital who are now high school and college students. They are all doing very well!!
I know, I know… People is not exactly a bastion of fine journalism, but I’m willing to take my good news wherever I can get it. Sometimes when it seems like there are only challenges at every turn, I like to hear that there is good news in some corners of the world. Thought you might have days when you would like to hear good news stories too. If you are interested in the article, but can’t find it, email me. I saved it and can mail it to you.
My six yr old has had glasses for the same problem as Simone for approx 12 mths. She was seriosuly over compensating, as her glasses are reminiscent of milk bottle bottoms….when milk was sold in glass bottles! Interestingly, I have the opposite problem, I am quite far sighted. I am in NZ, and our very friendly optometrist recommended I get her glasses from zennioptical.com I did, even tho its somewhere in Hong Kong, and th glasses are freakin fantastic, I was able to get two pairs for NZ$76, including postage. Retail for one pair of childrens glasses here is $350. And they have been tested and are perfect prescription. Just a heads up for us glasses buyin’ Mamas. Cheers – A
okay, I officially quit whining about getting glasses in the 6th grade! At least you and dad have glasses, so she’ll just think that’s what big girls do!