Glasses!
So I took the three older boys to get their eyes checked. Cassius already had glasses, but only needed to wear them at school. He kept them in the case in his backpack. A few weeks before the last day of school he said "Mommy, when are you going to fix my glasses?" Ah, well, I guess when you let me know that they are broken, son! They were unsalvageable and by that time it really didn't matter too much anyway. I have no idea how long they were broken before he let me know about them. D lost his glasses, or broke them or...something. He typically looses them within a few weeks of starting the school year. Then since Y will be starting kindergarten this year we got his eyes checked as well. We had an inking he maybe needed some help. Yep, his right eye is 20/100 and his left is 20/400! So he needs to wear glasses all the time. Even with glasses the ophthalmologist said she could only get his vision to 20/30, but obviously that is still much much better.
Anyway. I took all five kids with me to their vision appointment (6 if you count the preborn one!). They were able to schedule the boys back-to-back which was fantastic. D decided he wanted to try contacts as well, which we told him was fine but he needed to pay for them (due to the sad fate of glasses every year we thought that perhaps if he had a little more personally invested in these they might last a little longer). Medicaid doesn't cover contacts so they have to be paid for out of pocket (the kids still qualify for Medicaid as a part of their adoption subsidy).
It took him an HOUR to try to get them in. And he still couldn't do it, so we had to schedule another hour long appointment a few days later. All told we were there for two entire hours that first day. I had brought nothing in the way of child entertainment, thinking, hey, how long could this possibly take? I hadn't even brought so much as the diaper bag. Definitely no mommy-of-the-year award in my future. By the end of it Ben was nearly hysterical and I was shoving Cheese-Its into his mouth and getting only a moment of peace while he chewed them up and then started crying again. He didn't want to run around, didn't want to be held, didn't want to be in the cart. He was just done. Miss M was literally running around the store, she quite simply could not physically contain herself. I'm not sure how but she is way more energetic and wild than the boys are. Half of my hair turned gray. Just kidding about that last part. I think.
We all survived, but barely. Yusuf picked out some pretty awesome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle glasses, Cassius picked some red and black ones. D did get some glasses too, since they are free and just in case the contact thing doesn't work out or his eyes get irritated and he can't wear them or something. It still takes him about an hour every day to get them in his eyes. He's persistent, I'll give him that! I can't imagine screwing around with my eye that much every single day. I'd just throw in the towel and wear glasses! The thought of having to touch my eye so much makes me cringe. To each their own, though.
We picked their glasses up today. The little boys just loooove wearing their glasses. It strikes a little bit of fear in my heart. I feel like we got kid friendly ones, but I am sure it won't be too long before one or the other of them is broken. I already had to tell them within an hour of getting them to take them OFF if they are going to be wrestling. Ha ha. Boys!
One good thing about the glasses is that the boys are now very anxious to start school. Apparently wearing glasses=school time in their minds. Nineteen more days until we officially start school. Aaahhhh! I feel mostly ready but I also feel pretty anxious. I'm sure that's normal, right?
Yusuf is FIVE today! Woohoo! I think he is kind of shocked to be five. Earlier he was saying how he was going to be five at his birthday party (which is Saturday) and I reminded him that he is five RIGHT NOW and he was all "...OH!" He's so cute. :) We got him a guitar for his birthday. He's been wanting one for a long long time. I hope he likes it. It is a 1/2 size guitar with nylon strings. Nylon strings are supposed to be easier on little fingers, but they do require lots of tuning the first few weeks until they get stretched out enough to hold their tune. Good thing Brian is familiar with that stuff because I haven't got a clue how to tune a guitar! I contacted a guy who gives guitar lessons and he said they normally don't start kids until they are at least 8 years old because they just don't have the finger strength to be able to play correctly. So no lessons anytime soon, but maybe in a few years if he's still interested.
Ben took his first steps a few days ago. It was one day before he turned 17 months old, and his adjusted age was about 14.5 months. He has become much more brave since then and is taking steps pretty often. He can only take a few before collapsing but it is so amazing! We are very proud of him! I am so ready for him to be walking. I'm 26 weeks pregnant, I've gained only 10 pounds but my back is killing me by 5 or 5:30 every day, probably mostly because of lugging that kid around. As part of his PT/OT he is learning how to go down stairs (he is already a master of going up!) and I think if I can get him doing that consistently it will help, since we have a 2-story home I do carry him up and down a lot of stairs every day. His occupational therapist thinks Ben is the smartest baby in the world. Both his OT and PT love him to pieces. And really, you can't blame them. :)
He has come so far. Just think about the fact that 5 months ago he had just started sitting up by himself and could only army crawl using one arm, could barely even get into the regular crawling position because his left side was so weak...it's amazing! He is getting pretty fat too. I'll be interested to see what he weighs at his 18-month appointment.
That's it! :)
Anyway. I took all five kids with me to their vision appointment (6 if you count the preborn one!). They were able to schedule the boys back-to-back which was fantastic. D decided he wanted to try contacts as well, which we told him was fine but he needed to pay for them (due to the sad fate of glasses every year we thought that perhaps if he had a little more personally invested in these they might last a little longer). Medicaid doesn't cover contacts so they have to be paid for out of pocket (the kids still qualify for Medicaid as a part of their adoption subsidy).
It took him an HOUR to try to get them in. And he still couldn't do it, so we had to schedule another hour long appointment a few days later. All told we were there for two entire hours that first day. I had brought nothing in the way of child entertainment, thinking, hey, how long could this possibly take? I hadn't even brought so much as the diaper bag. Definitely no mommy-of-the-year award in my future. By the end of it Ben was nearly hysterical and I was shoving Cheese-Its into his mouth and getting only a moment of peace while he chewed them up and then started crying again. He didn't want to run around, didn't want to be held, didn't want to be in the cart. He was just done. Miss M was literally running around the store, she quite simply could not physically contain herself. I'm not sure how but she is way more energetic and wild than the boys are. Half of my hair turned gray. Just kidding about that last part. I think.
We all survived, but barely. Yusuf picked out some pretty awesome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle glasses, Cassius picked some red and black ones. D did get some glasses too, since they are free and just in case the contact thing doesn't work out or his eyes get irritated and he can't wear them or something. It still takes him about an hour every day to get them in his eyes. He's persistent, I'll give him that! I can't imagine screwing around with my eye that much every single day. I'd just throw in the towel and wear glasses! The thought of having to touch my eye so much makes me cringe. To each their own, though.
We picked their glasses up today. The little boys just loooove wearing their glasses. It strikes a little bit of fear in my heart. I feel like we got kid friendly ones, but I am sure it won't be too long before one or the other of them is broken. I already had to tell them within an hour of getting them to take them OFF if they are going to be wrestling. Ha ha. Boys!
One good thing about the glasses is that the boys are now very anxious to start school. Apparently wearing glasses=school time in their minds. Nineteen more days until we officially start school. Aaahhhh! I feel mostly ready but I also feel pretty anxious. I'm sure that's normal, right?
Yusuf is FIVE today! Woohoo! I think he is kind of shocked to be five. Earlier he was saying how he was going to be five at his birthday party (which is Saturday) and I reminded him that he is five RIGHT NOW and he was all "...OH!" He's so cute. :) We got him a guitar for his birthday. He's been wanting one for a long long time. I hope he likes it. It is a 1/2 size guitar with nylon strings. Nylon strings are supposed to be easier on little fingers, but they do require lots of tuning the first few weeks until they get stretched out enough to hold their tune. Good thing Brian is familiar with that stuff because I haven't got a clue how to tune a guitar! I contacted a guy who gives guitar lessons and he said they normally don't start kids until they are at least 8 years old because they just don't have the finger strength to be able to play correctly. So no lessons anytime soon, but maybe in a few years if he's still interested.
Ben took his first steps a few days ago. It was one day before he turned 17 months old, and his adjusted age was about 14.5 months. He has become much more brave since then and is taking steps pretty often. He can only take a few before collapsing but it is so amazing! We are very proud of him! I am so ready for him to be walking. I'm 26 weeks pregnant, I've gained only 10 pounds but my back is killing me by 5 or 5:30 every day, probably mostly because of lugging that kid around. As part of his PT/OT he is learning how to go down stairs (he is already a master of going up!) and I think if I can get him doing that consistently it will help, since we have a 2-story home I do carry him up and down a lot of stairs every day. His occupational therapist thinks Ben is the smartest baby in the world. Both his OT and PT love him to pieces. And really, you can't blame them. :)
He has come so far. Just think about the fact that 5 months ago he had just started sitting up by himself and could only army crawl using one arm, could barely even get into the regular crawling position because his left side was so weak...it's amazing! He is getting pretty fat too. I'll be interested to see what he weighs at his 18-month appointment.
That's it! :)
I'm surprised that both boys are having trouble with their eyes at that age. I'm looking forward to see the glasses, but sorry you had to start drinking after the eye appointment. Ben is really changing so fast! Hang in there!
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