Not the eyepatch. Please.

Dutch and Skipper had checkups today. Skipper is thriving and remains totally normal every which way. Dutch has rocketed off the charts for height, and is also thriving except! EXCEPT!!! ... she has to go to an eye doctor very very soon. She apparently can see very well with one eye, and very poorly with the other eye.* I wasn't at the appointment, and Cook wasn't very clear on the details, but it looks from the paperwork he brought home like they think she has strabismus.

I am shallow, apparently, because my absolute first thought on hearing this news from Cook was "Oh, no! Dutch will have to have braces AND glasses!" and my second thought was "I'll be damned if I don't find her the most flattering, attractive, and fashionable glasses we can possibly afford. We've got to save her from junior high misery!" After that, I had some questions about the actual implications for her health and vision.

Dutch is stressed about it - not about the eye doctor or the impending glasses, but because she FAILED A TEST.** Cook said that she had a hearing test after the eye test, and she was super-tense, with her little shoulders hunched up in anxiety.


* You may be asking yourself "How does one fail to notice that one's child is practically blind in one eye?" I'll get back to you on that.

** You may be asking yourself "How terrible a parent must one be to fail to notice that one's child is practically blind in one eye AND to have produced a child who's terrified of doing anything any less than perfectly?" ... All I can say is that Cook and I, both of whom have terrible eyesight and major fear of failure, have absolutely no idea. It's probably something in the water.

Comments

s* said…
dutch! we'll still love you whether you wear glasses and braces or not. heck some of our bestest friends wear glasses, and both of us wore braces. one of us wore them twice!
tiffky doofky said…
I think it took my parents a few years to realize that I couldn't see the leaves on the trees. And look how I turned out :)

I sympathize with each of you - eye tests paralyze me with fear of failure. I agonize for long seconds over each "is this one clearer...or this one". If I get it wrong, I could be blind and no one would ever know!

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