They have their mothers' eyes

Yesterday it was the annual trip to the eye doctor for this family. I have made this an annual thing ever since Jeremy's lazy eye was diagnosed when he was five. I had glasses by the time I was in 2nd grade and I probably could have used them sooner, so when it comes to my kids' vision I don't like to mess around.

Samantha's eyes are borderline- her vision is headed down that road but it is not bad enough to need intervention unless we really, really want to torture the poor child. I am certain that by next year there will not be the option.

Jeremy's prescription is basically the same. Keep wearing the glasses for reading, school work, etc. It's not necessary to wear them all day.

Joshua climbed up in the chair and I told the doctor that I had no worries about his vision. This appointment would be just to establish a baseline for future exams. Ha. Famous last words! Turns out my little guy needs glasses too. And he has to wear them all day. Wow. I was really surprised because I honestly hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. No squinting, no headaches, no complaining about not being able to see.

This is why I want to encourage all of you to get your kids' eyes checked regularly. You never know what might turn up in an exam.

He handled it all very well and picked out a cool pair of Spiderman glassed with webs on the ear pieces. He doesn't seem to be bothered by the fact that he will be wearing these things all the time. He was even bummed to find out that we have to wait a week to get them!

Another interesting thing was that when the doctor noticed Jeremy struggling with reading some of the sentences he gave him, he asked me if I had ever researched eye tracking problems in kids. I learned a little about this over at Poppins place. I believe her daughter was dealing with it. I really didn't know much about it but he told me that with Jeremy's history of a lazy eye, which is better now, he may have some lingering visual issues that are affecting his reading. They do therapy for this right at this office, which is very cool. The very uncool thing is that it is $160 per session. The sessions are once a week for 45 minutes. Youch!! I would love to try the therapy with Jeremy (after a full evaluation) but we can't afford that. I don't foresee a time ever coming when we would be able to afford that. I am going to contact our insurance company but I doubt they will cover any of it. If not, then I guess we are back to the Hooked on Phonics!

Have a great day everybody!