Ander's Eyes

It was a good 4 months of Ander's left eye turning in before Nathan and I decided that despite being told everything was fine, clearly, things were not. The problem then was that we didn't know where to take him. We weren't impressed with the first asian Dr. we'd seen so then who?

 A friend who used to live in Taiwan whose son also has an eye issue and had seen the same Asian dr., emailed me and said an American Dr. saw her son this summer and was not at all pleased with the Asian dr.'s approach. It was suggested we see someone else. This got us motivated to find a different dr.

Grant it, the office we found was in no way set up for a toddler, but they at least did an examination. The part where they put the capital E with the prongs facing different directions was probably the most frustrating. Really? A not very verbal 3 year old is gonna have the patience for that? But Ander did great considering. You could tell when he could no longer see clearly. He would try and cheat, or get down or out of the situation. Can't blame him. Kinda Chinese torture.

 After further testing all I understood was that Ander was farsighted and has Amblyopia where the muscle is pulling his eye in. I have no idea what the dr.'s plan of action is, there was very little productive communication. I did get that Ander needed glasses and that after a month he wanted to see if there was any change in his eye position. All other questions we have remain unanswered.
I couldn't imagine Ander keeping glasses on. Peer pressure didn't get the kid to wear a costume on Halloween, what would make him wear glasses? I may have even said a few prayers hoping for some inspiration on how to make it happen.
When we picked up his glasses I had an idea. He was intrigued with the case and shammy they gave him to go with his glasses. I told him it was the bed and blanket for his glasses and that he got to take his glasses off and tuck them into the case each night and wake them up each morning, he thought this sounded great.

He really does love tucking in and waking up his glasses. But here is the real genius, every time he would take his glasses off in those first few days when he was getting used to them, I would say, "Oh! You must be ready for bed, let's go tuck in your glasses!" and start steering him to his room. Those glasses would be back on his face in no time. He caught on quickly and has worn them so much better than I imagined he would. 

Of course when you can suddenly see things in detail it may encourage you to wear your glasses no matter what the age right? We noticed the difference right away and especially at church. He is terrible during Sacrament meeting. He won't read books or color, for example. His first Sunday with glasses? He didn't move for 45 minutes while pouring over a sticker book, seeing it for the first time. It was AMAZING.

 It hasn't all been perfect though. He chewed the nose pads off of his glasses not once but twice, in the first 72 hours. I used a less spiritually driven threat to change his behavior here, I told him if he did it again I was going to have to pinch his leg. Problem solved.
The other problem is that they have no decent kid glasses here. These ones are working, but they are a bit wide and ill-fitting. I think he needs something akin to goggles to make em stay on his face with his level activity though. But for now it'll do.

Obviously we are anxious to meet with Dr.'s this summer who we trust and can communicate. To be continued...