First, Mason is doing well overall. He has hit a language explosion and is chatting up a storm one or two words at a time. Especially if you get him one on one, he talks talks talks. I love it! Of course it also gives funny moments like when he orders someone to "Stop it." You may be helping him or doing something he simply thinks is unnecessary but he makes sure you know what he expects you to do. Stop it.
Mason's bottom is healing slowly. The last surgery was in many ways a success. Most of the layers of his bottom have closed and are healing. There is one small area that has a granuloma, an area where scar tissue is irritating itself and not healing. Today was our second silver nitrate treatment with the plastic surgeon Dr. P to clean, burn, and heal it. These treatments will continue weekly for at least the next month and then we will see where things are. While not the perfect healing I had hoped we would see this far out from surgery it is still much better than we started with.
Today Mason also had an eye exam with his developmental opthomologist Dr. G to explore possible causes for his left eye turning inward/crossing. In the end we've learned that Mason is extremely farsighted. Many children are farsighted to some degree in the early ages but Mason cannot see clearly close up OR far away without making a real effort to focus. With the extra effort it takes to do both levels of focusing his brain and left eye are continually overcompensating now, shown by the eye crossing.
That is the long reason behind the fact that Mason is getting glasses. We get them fitted in about two weeks once they come in. He tried on several styles today and then I let him choose the color of the style that we liked best. He chose black and just you wait for the pictures - the cuteness is unbelievable!
Now maybe you are like me, asking yourself how a 2 year old is going to handle wearing glasses all the time? How many times will he break them? How will we keep track of them? How will we live with all the cuteness? The idea is that Mason will see a difference and want to wear his glasses. We'll have an adjustment period but are hopeful that he loves them. He will break them. It's just a fact. Then we will replace them. Again and again. Keeping track should be easy because they will be on his face all the time. With seven siblings in the house he also has very few places to go that he won't be seen if taking off those glasses. ;)
Talked to a mommy friend whose toddler has glasses. She recommended getting a second pair right away if you can afford to.That way when pair 1 gets broken Mason wont have to wait basically not seeing until pair 2 comes in. Then just keep replacing the extra pair as needed.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
There's a toddler in my nursery class that just got glasses. Hers have a little band that attach around the back to keep them in place. I've never seen her mess with them at all. Wishing your boy good seeing!!!
ReplyDeleteAs you know, "Golf" got glasses when she was about 15 months old. If Mason is extremely farsighted like Golf is - you probably won't have a problem having him wear his glasses. Golf took to them right away - within a day or so - and never messes with them. "Delta", on the other hand was 3 when he got his glasses, and although he needed them, it wasn't as great a need - and it took a lot of work to get him to keep them on. (He also broke them about the 3rd day during a temper tantrum - I learned to take them away if he had a tantrum over anything...)
ReplyDeleteGolf has the MyraFlex (I'm sure that is the name) frame - they are all a flexible plastic that is one piece. I've never had/seen such great glasses! She has worn them for about 2 years, and they never broke, never had a single problem. She can fall asleep or nap with them on with no worry of them getting wrecked or them hurting her. Man, if they had them for older kids and adults, I'd love them (except they have a distinctive young-child look about them).
We have had lots of experience with glasses and little ones. Our 2nd son had glasses at 13 months. The band thingie around the back of his head was very helpful until he had to have bi-focals at 18 months. Then he would take them off and hide them. One time he his them under the stove and pushed them back with many picture books. It was hilarious! I also would suggest a second pair of glasses. But you probably don't need a second pair of lenses as it is usually the frame that breaks. Your glasses place should be able to pop the lenses out of the broken glasses and quickly put them in the second set of frames. That makes it a little more econimical because the lenses are usually the more expensive part. Also, insurance on the frames is very helpful. We went through many pairs of glasses with our second son. Good Luck! He will be Adorable!!
ReplyDeleteBtw - when Golf got her glasses, it was obvious. My dh, who wasn't totally convinced, was the first day. She was always very cautious about surface transitions. The day she got her glasses we went to the park. We were giving her nose a rest from the glasses - There was a tree causing a shadow - and she was crying because she wouldn't cross the shadow (we were on the other side from her.) I commented that the optician said about the transitions) - so I put her glasses on her - and she had no more problems with the shadow and running around on the grass. My dh was convinced.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you have discovered this early and are able to get glasses right away for him!
Peanut has had glasses since just after she was two years old, her vision is extremely poor and progressively getting worse, and she has been diagnosed as being legally blind without them. That all being said we toyed with the idea of the little band (and they make some really cute ones) but she never needed them. She didn't break the first pair for almost a year and would wear them almost constantly. Once she turned 4 however those glasses broke about once every six months because she would just get upset and throw them. Her current set (which are less than six months old) have now broken twice through no fault of her own because there's no "give" in the arms so if you don't take them off perfectly every time the arm eventually breaks ... they make flexible ones that would avoid that problem and are what we're going with next time. Plastic frames and not wire ones also make a HUGE difference! I cannot wait to see him in his little glasses! He's already adorable these could only make him an even bigger heart breaker : )
ReplyDeleteWe are just starting our spina bifida journey with our sixth child. I was thrilled to see your comment on spina bifida kids and have been enjoying your blog. Thank you for sharing specifics so that we can learn as much as we possibly can. You are a blessing!
ReplyDeleteStephanie
Hi Tristan,
ReplyDeleteI really liked this post... the cuteness of glasses ;-)
I've seen children as young as 14 months wearing glasses.
Those were unbreakable ones out of plastic... actually rather rubber. (latex-free? just thinking...)
I know a 3 year old boy with down-syndrome who has glasses (real ones now) and doesn't seem to break them... and he's a bit clumsy
Children probably get the benefits as well.
And Mason is a smart kid... he'll look even smarter then ;-)
Wishing you all the best and sending you greetings from Germany
Steffi
He is the cutest. Thanks so much for the updates, I so look forward to them.
ReplyDelete