Kids With Glasses Are Intelligent!

About six months ago, as I was asking Aydan to sit down and stop standing right in front of the t.v. for the hundredth time, it occurred to me that maybe he couldn't see. I talked it over with Bret and we decided to test him. We would ask him to read signs as we were driving or play the "find the states" game on license plates as we drove on long distances. But of course, he couldn't and just said that he didn't want to play. His teacher had complained to us that he wasn't concentrating at school and acting up every once in a while, which believe it or not, wasn't like him. (It is like me, but he doesn't take after me---thank goodness!)

So, we finally decided to get his eyes checked.

Well, being who we are and how much stuff we have to do, we put it off and continued to be bad parents and not give our child what he needs. The gift of vision.

Until a few weeks ago.

First, I called many optometrists and finally found one that would take our insurance. They didn't have an opening for the next month and a half, so I made the appointment. (This made me feel even more guilty about not doing it sooner, as I had to wait even a longer time to help him see...)

Fast forward to the day of the checkup. He went in and sat in that big chair where they had him read the letters far away and put drops in his eyes, so that his pupils were dilated for two days after---you remember that stuff----to check for cataracts or something. They used to use a puff of air and you knew that it was going to puff your eyeball, but they wanted you to relax and keep your eye open. Yeah, right... So, this was much better.

Well, he turned out to have a -2.00, so he wasn't exactly blind, and it made me feel a bit better. (I am a -5.75, and I can't see a thing, so that would have really been bad if his eyes would have been worse.) We got the prescription and asked about glasses. They informed us that it would take about two weeks to get the glasses, so I thanked them and moved on.

I bet you are saying; "Go to Lenscrafters! You can get your glasses in an hour!" Yes, I too have seen the ads and actually had to use them about six months ago when I found out that I had an eye infection and had to do a gig that night.... And yes, you guessed it, I had grandma glasses that I had had for about 15 years, so I had to stop by Lenscrafters and get something cool.

But thats where we headed.

They have really cool girls glasses by the way, so if your child has to have glasses, lets hope that its a girl, because just like boys clothing----its boring, boring, boring. We did finally agree on a pair---it was actually the first one that he had tried on, and even though I tried to get him to pick the round, Harry Potter style, he went for the practical.... Hmmm....just like his Dad.

He does look really cute in his glasses. And he informed us that a boy in his school told him that when you wear glasses, you are intelligent. I am sure that the boy said smart, but Aydan kind of uses big words. So, here he is---looking dapper and intelligent:




I was finally feeling good about myself as a parent---taking care of my child---when we walked out of the mall and he gazed around in awe. "Wow!", he said, "Everything is so pretty! I don't think that I have EVER been able to see----my whole life!"

Guilt, much?