patching & the ba

No glasses yet! Apparently there are very few places that actually sell infant glasses in Knoxville. And by that, I mean one. Don't let "pediatric" glasses trick you into thinking that means your 14 month old. Lenscrafters, Target, individual eye docs...no luck. I thought WalMart was going to be our answer as they carry the Dora/Diego infant line. This means that they have 1 pair of girls glasses & 1 pair of boys & they sell so few of these that they are kept in some random storage closet. Still, the price wasn't awful & the hours were convenient so we drove straight there from Bham. Too bad the infant glasses apparently are designed for 4 year olds. They were huge! So, our last resort is a place in Children's Hospital that is closed on weekends so we are headed there on Monday. I am sure that much more on the glasses will follow...

As part of our "keep the patch on at all costs" motto, we do a lot of vacuuming. Anderson LOVES the vacuum. He used to let me hold him while I did it, but now he insists on climbing on it. It took an hour to do one room, which was actually kind of nice because he didn't bother the patch at all the entire time.

Mom & I made a 1 day Bham trip on Wed for his doc visit. 5 hours of driving there through a monsoon, 3 hours at the doctor's office, 4 hours back & 20 minutes with Lily & Aunt Manda. This is the only shot I managed to get. Let's just say that when I walked in to her house & Lily said, "Sissa!" as soon as she saw me, it was totally worth it. She totally knows me. And loves me.

Anderson found the old yoga mat under my bed. We were all a little shocked by it. I used to work out? Ha.

While I have spent the better part of the last month praising Dr.Cogen (and, most likely, the better part of the rest of my life), I do have one small suggestion. Make your rooms bigger so that the kids you see aren't so tempted to play on the really expensive machinery! Because Dr. Cogen treats every patient like his only one (amazing), you spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting=trying to prevent your 1 year old from destroying everything. I love this little pirate shirt from GG.

We found out that we need to up the patching to 10 hours a day. Yes, you read that right. He said the hardest ambliopia (blindness) to reverse is pediatric cataract so we have to be very agressive at the start. He compared it to a war where you have to come out strong. I maybe embarrased myself when I started talking about the Battle of Bull Run & the Blitz but I think those were perfect examples. Anyway, he was very honest that we won't know any results until much later but the #1 variable in success is patching, patching & more patching. 10 hours is a long time. I will say it now-Thank God for Noni who is really the one who is saving his vision. Brandon & really only have to do it a few hours/day, which is hard enough, so we are so lucky. I read that floaties on the elbows prevent them from reaching the patch so we tried them out. He was pumped at first and couldn't wait to get them both on. Then, that novelty wore off & he just pulled them off! We didn't even get a minute out of them!

New riding toy. Also, patches from Aunt Cole! These (Krafty patches) & the plain bandaid colored ones are the best kinds. The ortopad ones, which are the decorated ones, don't stick as well. I think as he gets older we will be able to use the other kind. I love how the dogs are just everywhere. And, I just noticed he is wearing the police mardi gras necklace from Aunt Manda!

Besides "patch", the other word that is dominating our house is ball, or "ba". Being a boy apparently comes with knowing how to make the car "vroom" noise, building forts & loving balls. He will stop everything if he sees one. And, don't plan on buying oranges with him near you because he will scream the entire time you are checking out for the "ba!"

There are various balls everywhere in our house. How young are we in that picture??

This video is a few random shots. First, we are reading this book called "The Marvelous Toy" & he thinks it is hilarious. It is a nice, calm way to get him ready for bed. Second, he has become an adult as he likes to dip his bread into olive oil. Don't get the wrong impression-we are not fancy around here. Kroger sells these bread dipping spices in this huge thing for $6 & we are a carb loving family so we definitely enjoy them. He won't eat his bread without dipping it. Third, he loves hide and seek & I decided to record him hiding because it is so cute. He got distracted during the hiding but it was even cuter. These are all videos from the last few weeks which is why he is sans patch.