Appointments

I finally got around to taking Jared and Lydia to the dentist. I meant to do it in December when Mark was out of school but that clearly didn't happen.  I originally chose December because I seriously hate going to the dentist and 6 months from December is June so Mark will be out of school and can take care of it for both appointments. Thats how much I dislike it. I never took Jared to the dentist in Colorado, it was always Mark.  I feel like you always get bad news and I hate hearing the sounds.  Even knowing the appointment wasn't for me I still dreaded it. But we went and Jared and Lydia did awesome! (I will pat myself on the back because I have done quite a good job of not sharing my dislike of dentist appointments.) It was Lydia's first time and when we got back to the room she was pretty hesitant but when she looked up and saw the TV screen and cute stuffed animals she settled in and was a star patient.  Jared was perfectly composed and didn't bat an eye when they asked about X-Rays and I stayed in the room with Lydia.  He went and got it done like a boss.  Such  a rock star.  And both kids came away with no cavities or real concerns.  I was pretty nervous because it was 6 months later then I wanted Lydia's first appointment to be and Jared hadn't been since right before we left Colorado last June but it all worked out just fine. I felt pretty proud of myself (and Mark) that both of them had strong healthy teeth.

We also had Jared's long awaited eye appointment this week.  I wasn't quite as nervous about this one as I was the Dentist.  When he failed his kindergarten vision screening back in March I hoped it would just be an easy fix but it does not appear to be that way.  The Doctor did a series of tests and it was determined that his eyes are healthy but that the left eye is not doing any work, like at all.  He has amblyopia or a lazy eye.  Medical definition: "Lazy eye is often associated with crossed-eyes or a large difference in the degree of nearsightedness or farsightedness between the two eyes." (a.o.a) I can't remember if he was near or far sighted. 
He will now wear glasses full time and for the first three months he will have to wear an eye patch (its great that he loves pirates) every day for a consecutive 2 hours!  I was so disappointed.  Like really sad about it and still feel that way. The doctor said that that glasses are more for protection of his good eye (the right one) more than anything else.  His example:  if a rock were to hit Jared in that eye, he would be without vision unless the left eye was strengthened. So that is our plan.  We need to strengthen his left eye so that it starts working and developing.  Jared seems pretty okay about the idea of glasses.  We found some nice frames (glasses are super expensive by the way!) and should pick them up by the end of the week.  We went straight to the store after the appointment to pick them out.  Jared just wanted blue frames so that is what we got.  It will be so strange to see him with glasses!  I think it will be a huge adjustment and hope it goes well. There is a chance he could grow out of it as he gets older but I am not going to get my hopes up.  I understand that being able to see is the goal but I still wish he did't have to wear them. He just seems so big with them, like he lost some of his little boy-ness. I am so sad that it wasn't caught sooner so we could have started fixing it then.  

 First choice

Second choice