Big A flunked the eye exam at her five-year-old well visit with the pediatrician. No surprise to me, since I've noticed she now sits on the hardwood floor right in front of the TV rather than lounge on the comfy sofa ten feet away. World'sBestPediatrician referred us to a kid-friendly optometrist. WBP and I shared stories of getting our own glasses when we were kids to show Big A that glasses were normal.
Turns out Big A needs no convincing that glasses are neat. "I want to have glasses like Mommy and Daddy!" she shouts, "When can we go?" I am wondering if there might be some sort of replacement insurance one can buy for children's eyeglasses, since there must be 50 different ways she could crush her specs every day of the week.
Insurance musings were pretty much the beginning and end of my internal dialog about Big A's eyes. At least until I mentioned the optometry appointment to DH. Surprisingly, he seemed crestfallen at the news that Big A is nearsighted. He wondered if Big A was distracted during the eye test. Since then he has pointed out moments when he thinks Big A is seeing very well from beyond ten feet.
"What's the big deal? I asked him. "We both got glasses when we were in gradeschool."
"Yeah," he said wistfully. "But I had hoped she would be more perfect than us. Glasses mean she isn't, and that she'll have to deal with this for the rest of her life."
I get what he meant. Really, I do.
But the thing that popped into my head was we made one kid with an extra eighteenth chromosome, another with brittle asthma, and you're seriously sad about this one having 20/80 vision?
Somehow, it didn't seem appropriate to share at that moment. So I just changed the subject.
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Ever changing, Error-Prone, Exquisite.
Trying to Walk the Line Between Dwelling Too Much on All That Happens and Ignoring It Altogether.
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3 comments:
Oh we are a strange bunch of parents aren't we?
Of course he'd feel that way, but you are right, keep it in perspective!
Just remind him that laser eye surgery works.
Yeah. Keeping it in perspective. But I guess any 'flaw' is still a flaw. It's nice not to have to deal with a catastrophic situation, though, I bet.
We are constantly amazed our daughter's vision seems to be perfect (though she is only 3, plenty of time for grade school glasses, as we both did). But somehow we think the little man is going to have more to deal with.
It's all about perspective, isn't it? I think this is a sweet story and shows that even after all that your family has been through, there is still some lingering innocence. I like that. :)
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