Seeing Double installment two...

The girls have had their glasses for almost two months. Things have gone very well. The transition at first was a little hard because they really couldn't see better with the glasses at all but I just remained strict and they got into the habit fairly easily.

At their first appointment I had been told it was unusual to see progress with glasses alone (not patching) but they had recently found that it was a good first step as some do see progress. So at our first follow up (6 weeks in) I was expecting any real progress and prepared the girls for patches. Surprising we got wonderful news both girls had improved their bad eye four full lines. When they put the E they could see previously on the screen it was a huge and the E now is much much smaller. I couldn't be happier. As hard as it was at first the persistence and strictness paid off they are making progress. We will keep checking in to make sure we don't need patching as we might still need that to get it even better but we're off to good start.

Sparkle Bear...

As luck would have it Sydney had Sparkle bear the first day she had to wear her glasses to school. Sparkle bear comes home with a child who is really good at school. He/she gets to spend the day with that child and the night and then the child shares the visit with the class. It's a big deal around here.

Going to Kindergarten with her new glasses was causing some major anxiety for Hailey so I decided it would help to invite a friend over to take her mind of it and reinforce that its no big deal. In addition we had a special treat and went to McDonalds. The friend was the perfect choice because she is so sweet and told the girls how great they looked. 
 
Sparkle bear got to join in the fun too!



Sydney had to color a picture of Sparkle doing something.

When we arrived at school the girls got noticed. Most kids were nice (Sydney was worried about being called four eyes) one came and sat with me and told me, "I don't think the girls should wear those glasses again". I had to remind her how fashionable and great they were and that she was very wrong.  Broke my heart.  I left them full of anxiety and almost asked to volunteer in their class that day (though I knew they needed to do this one on their own).  It really made the saying that goes something like ... "having kids is like having your heart walk outside your body", very real. I waited for them as school got out and they were totally fine and doing great.

It's taking some adjustment but they are getting used to the glasses.  They wear them all the time and really don't remove them at all. The worst I have noticed is just letting them slide on their nose or lifting them to see better. It's really a different challenge that they see better without them.

Today we were thankful for good friends and sparkle bear.