A Green One.

We have entered a new phase of the Eye. To be fair, it is really quite relaxing as Eye phases go. Sort of a comical phase, if you will. Anderson insists on always wearing a green eye patch. Always. We have no idea where this tireless obsession/demand for, "A GREEN EYEPATCH! I WANT A GREEN ONE!" came from, but it has been going on for a few weeks. The night before "a few weeks ago" I ordered about 200 patches, only about 30 of which were green. So, after I realized this green situation was here to stay I had to quickly order another load to ensure the green ones don't run out.

The green is pretty cute, don't get me wrong.God forbid, he could be obsessed with the ugly yellow ones or the  red ones that really look pink. I just prefer the blue ones, myself. He has blue eyes, blue glasses and a lot of blue clothes. The blue always look blue and they don't smell funny like the green ones sometimes do.

As I was thinking about this today, I realized the same thing you are probably thinking. I am A.)not complaining about the Eye & B.) focusing on something completely trivial that has zero meaning for anything. Who knew that one day we would be at this point?

I've said it before that I like the Acceptance stage. It is so much more relaxing than the pissed off/worried/overwhelmed/exhausted stage of the Eye. Having been firmly planted here for awhile I can say that I will be sad to leave it. I feel a new stage coming on and this one might be my favorite of all. (Until we get to the success stage, that is).

 Right on the horizon is "Proud". It's sort of fast moving so I am pretty sure we will be caught up in it soon. Having time to actually focus on him instead of constantly re applying an eyepatch has given me such perspective into what an inspiring and cool little thing that he is. Don't get me wrong, this was clearly realized the second the doctor sort of threw him at me, but it's like a new level  now.


I am so proud of Anderson. So proud of this kid who is just so awesome.

Every single day of his life begins the same way: patch/glasses. He will not know a day to wake up and just be able to sit down or walk in the other room for about 5 or 6 more years. Every now and then I let my mind drift to that place for just a second. A place without patches. It seems weird and fake. To me patches are a part of him, a part of us, a part of our world. Not in a bad way, just in a way like oxygen or water is. You know, vital and constant.

Anyway, back to the proud thing. Every day when I watch the blur of Anderson run laps around the house, I am amazed at how he doesn't run into everything, how he knows SO much for a kid who basically is only working with one eye, how he can see the moon or an airplane in the sky with the bad eye, how he just talks to people (talks=roars like a monster) wherever we go, how he can answer the questions posed by Mickey & Dora even when his chair is slanted sideways and the one eye he has access to is partly hidden, which is really like seeing using 1/4 of an eye, how wide he can swing the left eye since he has discovered the benefits of peripheral vision. It's like he knows he only has one eye to take in the world, so he better make the most of it. Or,even better, it's like he doesn't even know. To me, that is even cooler.


 I am aware that he doesn't completely realize what or why is happening to him all day, but he responds to it exactly how I hope he responds to life: curious, questioning, trusting, a little bit angry and always on the lookout for an opportunity. I used to think how easy life would be "if only". IF ONLY he slept past 6am, took a nap, didn't have ridiculously sensitive skin, ate something/anything, didn't have to wear an eyepatch. Then, I settled on, IF ONLY he would leave the patch on. Oh, what a carefree vacation of a life existed in that fake world. But, that perspective business has made me see how BECAUSE OF is so much more important than IF ONLY. Yes, I miss naptime (so does he-come by about 5pm if you doubt this), but how great that I get a few extra hours of time with my kid on the weekend? And, the not eating thing really saves us money so he is looking out for the family with that one. The weird skin made us potty train early. And, while he is definitely not perfect, he pees in public potties like a champ, which I see as some sort of victory.

And, most significantly, of course, because of that darn eyepatch so many things are happening. He can have complete conversations with us and is so vocal it is a teeny bit overwhelming. Due to our constant stalking/distracting, he knows all of his letters, shapes, colors, construction equipment. I used to be angry at the stereotype of smart kids wearing glasses and now I realize that stereotypes do exist for a reason. He is pretty adept at using both hands which I think is because of his genes (the dominant Toni Glover gene that gave him his face and his blue eyes also passes on the lefty gene), but also because he uses his left hand when the patch is on because he can see it better. When the patch is off, he switches back to right. Being ambidextrous is a perk if I've ever seen one. And, the way he approaches the patch even gives me a bit of insight into who he is and who he will be. He is not someone who just accepts; he questions and voices his concern (I don't want to wear the eyepatch! Why do I have to wear eyepatch? Bobble has glasses, no eyepatch!). He trusts us, but still believes that he is right enough to put up a fight. But my favorite, is his ability to bargain and seek out opportunities. He will say, "I wear eyepatch and get a little bit of chocolate milk. Just one more time chocolate milk." It is hilarious. I know it is part of being 2, but I feel like I get more chances to laugh than most moms of 2 year olds.

I think the whole "green" thing is a way to at least have a little bit of control over the situation Sort of, I have to wear an eyepatch, but at least I get to pick the color. That, or the fact that he is 2 and 2 year olds have no logic.

So, here we are nestled on the border of Acceptance and Proud. I know some hard times are coming our way. Times of really intense questioning by him, the first time I have to let him stick up for himself when someone ridicules him, times of tears long after he is asleep as I worry about his first day of school as the Pirate of Kindergarten.

But, right now those things don't really matter because I am so proud of this boy who is smart enough to know what matters in life-BECAUSE of the fact that he is smart, outspoken, funny and has chocolate milk, an eyepatch (green, or not) won't matter.

NoniBop

Every night when Anderson says his prayers, I ask him, "Who are you thankful for today?"  His first response is, "NoniBop!" While I very rarely make the cut (It is not unheard of for Uncle Zack to make the cut twice, but I hardly ever get a shout out), I am so appreciative every night when I think how lucky my kid is to spend his days the same way I did-with my mom. Let's be honest, she is awesome. Bop wasn't around yet when I was Anderson's age, but he has more than made up for that lost time by being Anderson's BFF.

Here are a few pics from 2 days at NoniBop's house. Warning: you will want to be a 2 year old to hang out there all day.

ABCs & phrases.

There are a lot of letters around our house lately. Well, there are only 26, but you know what I mean. Anderson is really into letters and I blame his genetic need to organize and categorize things. It's fun to watch him learn letters but can we please get something else that starts with an X? I am a bit over the Xylophone. 

 He was pointing out the letters on the donation jar at the church doughnuts table. I told him the word was Vincent and he said, "Aesson Vicet Guver." True!!

My mom is so creative and always incorporating things he likes to make him learn. I got this Pooh puzzle at a consignment sale (I took a gamble that it had all of the pieces-it did!) & he drives his car/truck/tractor/train to whatever letter she says. 

Super Why app that I got free on my phone- he loves the pig game & picks out the letters. It's the only game I have on my phone. I am cheap;it was free.

Interactive alphabet game on the ipad is awesome. I was going to put a link, but just search for it. A is definitely his favorite letter.  He also really likes F, which is weird. 

Clare got him a DVD with a bunch of episodes of different cartoons & he will actually watch the entire ABC Dora. I love when he yells the answers to her questions. My favorite is, "Vulture!" 

Helping JPa & Daddy put together a shelf or table (I realize I should know what this is) in the garage. The parts were labeled,  A, B, C, etc. He kept pointing them out.

 In a desperate attempt to make consistent progress with potty training, I got this Thomas alphabet puzzle & he gets one new piece every time he uses the potty. We are only to F, so definitely still need some work. But, this has worked for  us way better than the sticker chart. Anderson is weird about stickers. Since he wears one on his face all day, it's not really a novel concept for him.

Letters on the chalkboard wall. We like a theme around here.

It's tournament time in high school basketball world which means a lot of time in high school gyms for the Glover family. Anderson loves this because usually there is only one game a night (instead of 2), there is a hospitality room for coaches (cookies!) & the location changes. His favorite place is Bearden because there is a giant B on the floor and he can say, "B is for Basketball!".

Shout out to Uncle Zack in the video. 

Here are some of my favorite phrases from him right now:

"Dank" (he says this for Thank You)

"Allright" (He says this whenever we remind him of something-usually related to the potty)

"One more time" (I cannot do his little voice justice here because the way he emphasizes words is so cute. He says this when he wants another book, another kiss, another vitamin, another chance to look at the moon...He has started taking the chewable ibuprofin and he really likes it. He says, "One more time medicine. Just one more time.")

"My leg!!" (Imagine this in a super frantic voice. Every night while he is getting ready for stalling bedtime he will say this repeatedly for us to cover his legs. His legs are always covered, it is just some weird habit.)

"Scu me" (he says then when he burps. So cute)

"Bobble" (It's back. I don't have any idea why I was mommy for about 2 days, but I am now a Bobble again.)

"Stop that!" (Classic 2 year old, I think. Usually this is when I am trying to do something crazy like buckle him in his car seat, pick out a book for us to read or sing)

The eye:a timeline (take 2)

For my own personal reference and to answer questions that people might have about Anderson's eye, I am doing a "second year" timeline of the eye. 


Here is a link to the first phase...


The eye: a timeline (1)

Feb-April, 2011

Obviously the surgery was a success, as Dr. Cogen is wonderful. We had to put drops in Anderson's eye every hour for a week or so and then gradually scale down from there. I was so glad when the hourly shifts were over! We went back to Birmingham 5 times during the next 2 months with one trip consisting of there and back in one day. We spent a lot of time with the fam, so that was nice. We spent a lot of time in the car, which wasn't as nice.

March, 2011
Anderson got his first pair of glasses! Dark blue Miraflex.  Precious from the start. 

April, 2011
Some punk kid pointed at Anderson & laughed. Crushing. Later this month a kid at the playgrund said, "Oh, he must be the pirate!" We quickly began learning lessons on perspective.

May, 2011
Anderson started saying, "Gyasses"

June, 2011

Dr. Cogen told us that we are "Better than most" with the patching and we can come back in 6 months! I was excited at the time because that sounded like progress. But, I was also bummed because I scheduled his next 2 visits and one of them was over a year away. It is just so constant.

Summer 2011

Keeping an eyepatch on a sweaty toddler who just wants to play in water was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Very hard, but we did it! My motto at the beach was, "It's better to have vision in the future than a patchless  (easy) vacation now." I complained multiple times a day to anyone who would listen. My mom has yet to complain even once. 

August, 2011
Anderson recognized the difference between "real" pirates (with eye patches) and those fake ones.

Fall 2011

Anderson started Mother's Day Out where his teachers sometimes went through 2 patches & sometimes go through 2 packages!

Thanksgiving Weekend
I'm pretty sure that I was the only person who was dreading a long weekend. I sort of dawdled at a bit at the end of the day, dreading the idea of 4 days trapped with the Patch. Yes, I now admit that I am terrible mother. My own mother had to deal with the patch basically all week and NEVER complained. And, here I was, dreading what should have been a fun extra few days with a Bug.


For whatever reason, that weekend was the turnaround weekend. For the 11 months prior to Thanksgiving, Anderson took the patch off multiple times per MINUTE. I'm serious. It was miserable. On Thanksgiving I noticed that I actually was able to walk out of the room and the patch was still on when I came back!! Revolutionary. Mom & I didn't actually talk about it for a few weeks, living in fear of the patch gods seeking revenge.

December, 2011
Dr. Cogen said we can patch all but TWO hours! This was amazing because we look at the one hour off as covering all of the minutes here and there where we are putting on a new one, bath time, times when he wakes up, etc.


Winter 2011-2012
Things went much more smoothly than last year at this time. He wants to pick out his own color and tells us his patch is dirty a lot as an excuse to take it off. He is much easier to bribe now, which makes everything easier! If he gets mad at someone he blames them for getting his glasses dirty, which is hilarious. We are really working on letters so he can read a vision chart soon. Also, perspective has set in because nothing really seems hard anymore. Potty training isn't really smooth sailing and I swear it doesn't even bother me!


Yay for Eyes!

A construction monster with a backpack.

He has discovered a "talent" for pulling the handle to throw stuff up in the air and catch it in the shovel part.If you look closely, you can see it in the shovel. 

 Our neighbors give us their random used stuff & sometimes there is something awesome like this Dr. Seuss backpack. Anderson & Dr. Seuss are pretty tight, so this is perfect. He loves to wear it & carry his tractors around in it.

Love how the backpack takes precedent over pants. He always says, "Bye bye, Bobble! I going to work. Wuv you!" Then he blows me a kiss. Precious. 

Skyping with Lily. Backpack-it's almost like Dora, I think.  The second Lily was on the screen, I could have left without anyone noticing. Seriously, I think we were having a conversation and I am positive it was never finished. The girl has that sort of effect on people. 

Insisted on bringing to to church to show Big Jesus. He calls Him that because one of our desperate attempts at keeping him semi calm in mass is to look for the big Jesus! Now, when we say prayers at night, he prays to Big Jesus. 

 In true boy fashion, Anderson is now moving into an obsession with monsters. He will roar (do monsters roar? growl?) at everyone. He loves his monster towel & I can actually get him out of the tub with no fighting using it, which is really nice. He acts like a monster all of the time now. His favorite kind of monster? Tickle monster!

Here is yet another reason why I love having a kid. I asked him if we should tie shirts on our heads and run around like monsters. He was pumped. 

 Dinner with Jpa & GG! How great does JPa look? All of his tests came back negative! (This is VERY positive...) Next step is the stem cell transplant and we know he is going to rock it out just like he has every other stage of this "situation". This is the best pic I could get and I think it is pretty good because they are both looking at the camera. Later in the evening, Anderson peed all over himself in his booster seat at Olive Garden. The place was packed so we provided a little entertainment for everyone as we literally had to force our way through the people waiting: the site of a 2 year old with an eyepatch and soaking wet pants repeatedly yelling at me, "It's a TRACTOR!" at the top of his lungs because I made the mistake of calling one of his toys a  front loader. I'm always there to mix it up a bit for Public.

Our pathetic attempt at winter this year was about 25 snowflakes. Gabbi really likes snow and was very disappointed. 

potty training update.

It's not really working right now. At all.

I take too many pictures.

Two of his favorite things: his garbage truck & letters. Noni plays a game with him where he drives the truck to a letter & he loves it!

He has such an imagination-he made the Velveeta cheese into a train. Played with it way longer than he plays with his actual train track. Too bad we didn't just buy him this, seems a bit cheaper.

Bobble Cole made him a bag with pictures of all of his favorite things on it. She put random stuff in it & the other day he yelled, "Bobble Cole gave me the moon!". He was holding up a little round rock. Precious.

Brandon with his jeep project. More to come on this later. 

Our cousin, Thomas, is leaving for Air Force basic training! We are SO proud of him and know he is going to be very successful. There is literally nothing I love more than someone willing to fight for his country.  Love veteran Pappaw in the background, too!

Aunt LoLo's house is pretty awesome for Anderson. She has a fish pond in her yard and moons in her bathroom! And, there was cake!! Anderson was pumped. 

 I bought him some Smart Smurf slippers! I have never actually seen the movie, so he might have a name, but I just know it is the one with glasses. They were $2 and target had about 100 pair left. Clearly,there  is not a high demand for glasses themed toddler clothing. But, that just means we get more for cheap!

 Still loves his transportation equipment. Actually, the orange truck is a night light. It is awesome. I got it at Target and it is soft, doesn't require batteries because it charges during the day when you plug it in and he can very easily do it himself. Aunt Manda bought him a turtle like this one and not he loves his truck, too.

 Reading his construction book from Jessica!

 Pops was my date for the Farragut/Bearden basketball game last week. This is always our biggest game & the FHS girls won, while the boys lost in overtime :( I love being with the cheerleaders at the big games because they are so, so excited and it is great to be a part of that. Anderson was hanging out with Noni playing play doh, so he was pretty excited, too.

Visit to the mall play area with Jack! Anderson loves his BFF and kept yelling for him whenever he couldn't see him. There was also quite a bit of tackling between the 2 of them.The rest of the time Anderson spent acting like a monster, roaring at the top of his lungs. He loves monsters right now.

Busy Bug

He loves playing in my closet. Sadly, this is usually how well dressed I look, too. 

 There is a lot of booty dancing around here.

 He told me the only way he could use the potty was with help from all of these guys, so he had to hold them the entire time.

 Brandon had to work the car show over the weekend, so we went to visit. Anderson was in HEAVEN! He kept running around with excitement & I was unsure if we were ever going to get him to leave when he saw the jeeps.

 He was very possessive of the trucks & jeeps. If anyone tried to get in one, it was not pretty.

Lily was here a few weeks ago & I am a bit behind in getting the pictures on here. They were very calm and kept sharing their patience.

Love this girl. Persistence and spunkiness all wrapped in preciousness.

My parents took them to Chuck E. Cheese (of course they did) & Lily got stuck in the top of the play thing so Bop had to go get her. Anderson insisted on tagging along-he is Bop's assistant after all.

I am a water bottle.

Please notice how excited my dad is about the Cukoo (did I spell that right?) clock. Big times at Noni/Bop's house.

He has become so helpful in the kitchen. Please ignore the scary knife, I promise I'm not a terrible mother. Look, I am attempting to cook something with red bell peppers! That is healthy so it redeems my potential safety hazard.

This boy loves going to his GG's house to play with his fun toys there.

But, mostly he loves rocking with his GG! Seriously, he might still be pulling her hand to the chair when he is a teenager.

We celebrated Curtis' birthday last week. Anderson was faced with his first dose of reality-it is not actually his birthday every day.

Uncle Curtis came through & let Anderson help him blow out his candles and unwrap all of his presents. Anderson was very unimpressed with all of Curtis' presents. He would say, "Nah" after each one &  I asked him later what Curtis got for his birthday and he said, "A box!"

A pretty badly recorded video of a precious moment. 

Aunt Ems gave Anderson a Thomas tent for his birthday! He loves to play in it and decided to make it a reading tent.

We have been taking advantage of the fact that winter skipped us this year by spending a lot of time outside.

 Playdate with Jack! Look at our babies boys acting like professional artists.

 Jack is practicing early for college.

He has mastered it pretty well, don't you think??