About a month ago, Instagram alerted us that one of Graham's buddies had lost his first tooth. Graham immediately got to work wiggling one of his bottom teeth and by the evening asked me to pull it out so he could be like Ike. This kid is highly socially motivated!
The next day, he asked me to pull out his other bottom tooth.
A week after that he informed us that it was Dad's turn to pull out a tooth.
There went his first top tooth!
You'd think he couldn't keep up this pace, but you'd be wrong. A few days later I helped him yank his other top tooth. Now he's pretty much toothless! Surprisingly, it hasn't affected his speech much, but he does like to stick his tongue through the gaping hole.
I finally got around to scheduling my kids for eye exams. Bryce and Thane went a few years ago and were told to return a year later. Four years is almost the same as one year, right? Whoops. Graham and Nellie had never had an exam.
All the kids were excellent patients. Nellie watched her brothers do their exams, but before her turn exclaimed, "I tan't have my eyes checked, because I tan't read yet!" Thankfully the doctor had a way to overcome this obstacle. Nellie, Graham, and Bryce are all "okay for now." There's a strong possibility that they'll need glasses at some point, but not yet.
Thane, on the other hand, needs vision correct now. The doctor explained that there is relatively new technology that involves using special contacts to slow or stop the visual degeneration. So, Thane is currently at a -1.50 prescription level. If we put him in glasses, his vision would continue to get worse, possibly to a -8 or -9 by the time he's an adult. With the contacts, he will hopefully stay at -1.5 or maybe worsen to a 2, but that's still significantly better than the alternative!
Thane wasn't thrilled with the contacts, but he's adapted pretty quickly. He claims he can't tell a difference with them in, but I have a hard time believing that.
You see, I have never had an eye exam, but in anticipation of turning 40 later this year, I figured it was probably about time. I'd noticed over the last 6 months or so that words were getting a little fuzzier. Sure enough, I have a small prescription (+0.5) and got glasses for reading and driving in unfamiliar locations. The glasses make a significant difference when I'm reading. If they make such a big difference for me, and my prescription is so much lower than Thane's, I can only imagine how much his contacts help.
Poor Mark is no stranger to the eye doctor, but he's had to spend an abundance of time at appointments lately. His left eye is especially bad (-12!). This is why we are extra excited about the technological advances that will hopefully help Thane.
1 comment:
I'm at a -2.5. There is a big difference in the pluses and minuses. I can read and work on the computer just fine without my glasses, but can't see sharply across the room. Since Thane is homeschooled and doesn't have to read a blackboard across the room, it makes sense to me that he might not see a major impact in his life.
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