Sunny 9 for 2007 August 29 (entry 0)

(5) Wed Aug 29 2007 23:27 This and that: I feel so far behind in blogging, that or just a lot has gone on lately. First things first...the story behind Gunnar needing glasses. To answer questions, yes he does need glasses, and no they are not a fashion statement. Trust me, I would have spent the $95 on my clothes rather than a pair of "sunglasses" as Lily calls them.

Back to the beginning: after Gunnar was born and once he was further along than a newborn, people including family and people I hardly knew would comment saying they see a "lazy eye" or "cross-eye" in Gunnar. After I got over the "how dare anyone think let alone SAY to a mother their child is imperfect" phase I finally decided and then a few months later remembered to ask his pediatrician about it. The pediatrician referred me to an pediatric ophthalmologist and thus I went. The ophthalmologist immediately diagnosed Gunnar with Pseudostrabismus which basically says it looks like he has a lazy eye since he is a baby and doesn't have a nose bridge, but he isn't cross-eyed. He said it was just an optical illusion and that he will out grow it. He then said just to be sure let's go ahead and dilate his pupils and take a look.

So they put in the eye drops and I waited a half hour for them to take effect and then he brought me back into the office to check Gunnar out again. The Dr. got his little flashlight out and lens thing and looked into his eyes and right away exclaimed, "this boy needs glasses. He is nearsighted!" Ok, imagine my surprise. "Glasses on an 8 month old?" I asked, "Are you sure?" "Oh don't worry. He'll love them. He will love being able to see the world in high def." He then projected an "E" on the wall about 15 feet away, the size of an sheet of paper and said that Gunnar could see that E but anything smaller he would not be able to make out.

So then I called and searched every optical place looking for infant glasses that weren't too hideous and I finally found some at solobambini.com. They aren't the cutest things but they are very durable (no screws) and about half as much as the other baby glasses I was seeing. When we put them on his face for the first time he giggled. So I think he likes them, although he does fuse sometimes when I put them on, but he mostly leaves them alone. He always takes them off in the car when he is just sitting there though. Lily will tell me "Gunnar is eating his sunglasses!"

I never needed glasses nor Aaron so I need to adjust to cleaning them and remembering to put them on. I wish that there were some cuter frames but with a baby there are not many options. As you can imagine I get stopped all the time in the store or wherever with comments about his glasses, but at least everyone gushes about how cute he is. I still don't feel like they are apart of him, so I don't really think they are that cute but it helps when other people think so. I can't complain though because it could be worse. I am very blessed to have two very healthy kids, and that is all I ask for.

In other news about Gunnar, he is cutting his two top teeth! Much sooner than Lily did. He isn't as fussy as when his lower ones came in and thank goodness for that. I thought someone switched babies on me. He also crawls really fast now and is very good at pulling up on things. I even went in his room yesterday morning to get him and he was standing up in his crib looking at me: a first! It was so cute. He still takes tumbles but is getting better at it. He hasn't tried walking along things but it is only a matter of time. Whenever Gunnar is missing from the family room I know he has escaped to his favorite spot:Lily's room. He loves playing in there, but only when he forgets that he wants me by his side every minute and every second of every day. That boy is so clingy. If I am not holding him he is not happy about it.

The other thing about Gunnar is he eats all day long. The boy is always hungry wanting to eat solids. He eats what we eat for dinner now along with some baby food to supplement. Sheesh, and it is costing a fortune. I am also not excited about the highchair phase of a big mess on the floor after every meal. I am back to having to sweep and mop all the time now like it was with Lily. Another naughty phase is he won't sit still for diaper changes anymore. Why do kids torture us? As if changing a poopy diaper isn't bad enough, they throw in moving around and crawling away into the picture. And lastly, Gunnar got his first haircut as you can see in my picture blog. He got woken up from a nap so he was not happy. And it doesn't even look that straight. Oh well. This turned out longer than I thought so I will just make another post for Lily.

Comments:

Posted by Joseph Walch at Thu Aug 30 2007 11:02

I have experienced some people who have had a difficult time dealing with their own mortality and imperfections. It can be difficult.

It is good that you were able to correct his vision early. He may not have strabismus right now (that is usually diagnosed after the critical period of visual development), but people who are nearsighted often develop refractive amblyopia. High myopia makes stereoscopic vision (3-D) useless and so the brain stops trying to reconcile information from both eyes (using one eye more)--especially if one eye has more fuzzyness.

I have a touch of refractive amblyopia because of my astigmatism. My right eye will never correct to better than 35/20 even though my eyes line up just fine (no strabismus) because my brain wasn't trained to use that eye. I guess that might be considered a lazy eye without the misalignment.

There are some really cool treatments available when Gunnar is a little bit older, however, like implanted contact lenses (ICL).

Sorry for the long post.

Posted by Susie at Thu Aug 30 2007 11:27

Share a picture when you get a chance. Hopefully the glasses are cuter than when I was a little kid with them...

Posted by Aaron at Thu Aug 30 2007 13:13

Pics are posted at http://4yourconsideration.blogspot.com/

Posted by Kristen at Thu Aug 30 2007 22:33

Sorry Susie, I forgot to mention that I have pics up on my picture blog.

Posted by Susie at Fri Aug 31 2007 18:48

Cutie hair! I guess you need unbreakable/unbendable ones for a baby.