Beyond weird.

Ok, so most of you already know this because I put it on facebook, but I have to share for all of my eye mom friends. This is a true story that is going to make you sad and happy at the same time.

Yesterday Anderson & I went to one of my favorite places in the world, CVS, so we could make a little money & maybe take home some toiletries in the process. Anyway, he was not cooperating at all with the cart so he was handing me bottles of nail polish while I searched for the free toothpaste.

This woman said, "I'm sorry to bother you, but does he have a cataract?"

I stared at her. Nobody asks if it's a cataract. It's always, "What's wrong with his eye?" or "Lazy eye?" I said,"Yes...Do you know someone who has one?" I was fully expecting it to be a friend of her nephew or something random. I almost fell over when she said, "My daughter had one. She's 2."

I was speaking, in person, face to face, with another cataract mom!! I had no idea this day would come.

We went through the whole thing on both sides-how it was discovered, how old they were when started patching/surgery/etc, complications, etc. ...Then she said that something about "wore" the patch. As in past tense. As in past tense with a 2 year old & a vision problem that is not cured by 2. I must have looked confused because she said, "Well, we gave up on the patching thing. It was just so impossible. I mean, toddlers are already so difficult, there was just no way."

I thought, surely she knows something I don't know or maybe her daughter didn't really have a cataract because I know the result of not patching a cataract. I must have looked confused because she said, "The doctor said she will just be blind in that eye, but she won't know the difference. "

We talked a few more minutes about how random pediatric cataracts are & then went our separate ways. I looked down at Anderson & said, "You're welcome."

But, seriously, most of you all reading this are moms-CAN YOU IMAGINE???? She has complete control over her daughter being blind in one eye and she is letting it happen! Is this not against all that is being a mom? I am still trying to process it. That poor baby is really all I think about & how borderline (across the border, let's be honest) obsessed I am with Anderson. Didn't something just click the moment your kid was born & you knew it was for real, no matter what, they are always first!

Ok, so to my cataract moms, WE ARE AWESOME!!! I know you both are crazy frustrated with the contact/patching (and, rightfully so), but you are doing it everyday! There was something to validating for me personally about our conversation. I guess it was proof that it is hard if other people can't do it. Is that totally selfish that I profited from this poor girl's vision loss? I was a little giddy when I left CVS & I don't think it was just because of the free toothpaste!

cute.

This duck doesn't look that cute, but it was hilarious how much it reminded us of Chloe. The other ducks were calm waiting for their illegal pieces of stale cheerios (lots of signs telling us not to feed the "wild animals"), but this chubbers was frantic, literally begging for a piece. She was probably put on a diet too, and is in desperate need of a snack.

Anyway, 2 really cute things happened today with Anderson & the eye.

1. A conversation:

Me: I have to put your glasses on so you can see the garbage trucks. (It was 7:30pm & just got out of the bath. If he wore it all day then we don't make him wear it after his bath, since he goes to bed soon after it.)

Anderson: Nose (points to his nose), Glasses (points to his glasses), Patch!! (points to where his patch normally is)

Me: You don't have to wear the patch right now (Literally, these words have never come out of my mouth, except , possibly, in my wildest dreams)

Anderson: Patch!! (He lifts his glasses, pointing at his eye, running toward me)

Me:Um.... (I'm in shock but I get the patch & put it on his eye & pull his glasses back down)

Anderson: Thank you! (runs off to play with his garbage truck)

Me:My kid is perfect. Did that just happen?

I am documenting this for future reference (tomorrow) when we go through 25 patches in one day.

2. He loves to point at his glasses & the point at other people & their glasses. This works well with me because I do actually wear my glasses a lot now & have my sunglasses ready to go for when I'm wearing my contacts. He also points out Noni's, GG's, J Pa's, etc. Tonight he was exceptionally excited about his glasses & kept pointing at them. I glanced over & saw him trying to put them on Chloe. It was hilarious because he had the little strap behind her ear & everything. He said, "Gu Gu, gyasses!" She was being so patient. Then, he switched to Gabbi. Precious.

Speaking of cute, here is a video of one of his/my favorite pastimes. Playing "night night" in the bed. We do this for a pretty large part of most days. Please ignore the towels/sheets that are on my bed as they were just going to have to wait to be folded.

Eye believe.

I believe in Dr. Cogen because he doesn't sugar coat things & uses lots of analogies. I believe that some of the patches smell weird & I cannot figure out why. It's usually the green ones, but I like that color because they remind me of garbage trucks. I believe that some people probably think I talk about The Eye too much. Those people must not be moms. I believe that most people are shocked by a 1 year old wearing an eye patch, which is why they stare at us. I forget about it & usually think people are staring because I have dressed him very cute that day, or maybe he is waving at them & they are impressed with his adorable personality. I really do believe this. I believe God knew I was going to have to quit my job to patch my kid & had my mom move here to prevent that. I believe that his glasses are a magnet for dirt, smudges and scratches. "Scratchproof" -ha! I believe that we should get the senior discount at Kroger on Wednesdays because Anderson has a cataract & bifocals. Technically, he qualifies. I believe that nobody who works at Disney has a kid in glasses because if they did there would be more than one character with glasses. And, Little Einsteins is so awful, nobody watches it, so it doesn't even count. AND, can we please get Jake & the Pirates and Jack Sparrow an eye patch? Really, is it that hard? They're pirates! I believe in miracles, but the eye success will not be a miracle. No, no, no. It will be a hard won battle. I believe that those moms who have to deal with a contact are the real heroes in the baby vision world. (Shout out to Austin & Easton's moms!) I believe that Anderson is going to be so flexible, adaptable & empathetic in life. I believe that is not a coincidence that my son's glasses are round, just like like Harry Potter's. It would have been so easy for JK Rowling to make Harry have perfect vision, but she realized that true heroes always have a weakness, which makes them just a bit stronger. I will forever love her for not taking the normal path & giving the smart one (Hermione) or the nerdy one (Neville) glasses. I believe that this patching business is a routine on the best of days & an inconvenience on the worst of days & never, ever a tragedy, despite my frustrations. I believe that the bath water I cleaned up last night also had a little bit of the puddle I melted into when Anderson leaned over the tub & said, "Bobble! Kiss!" with his little lips puckered. I believe so, so much in his little face with the one eye looking back at me.

For more vision reality, check out 2 of the blogs I follow/stalk:

http://seethedistance.blogspot.com/

http://visionisagift.blogspot.com/

Their posts are SO helpful to me because it's so great to see other moms fighting this same battle. And, WINNING, I might add...

Chubby worms & other things.

We got Anderson a bunch of little green balls to play with, only they aren't balls. They are tomatoes from my dead plant. Not only do I have a black thumb, but I have a toddler who literally cannot stand himself not picking them.

We had to get his lens replaced, so I tried on some new frames. Just for fun. I know. He is adorable.
The boy will ignore his lovey but clutch his tractor & truck until morning. When I go to get him in the morning, he is still holding them.
He insisted on taking everything from his crib with him after he woke up. He was seriously frantic about it.
Chloe, always the fashionista, modeling her new sundress from Aunt Manda.
Gabs got one, as well. These were the best pics I could do. I am waiting on Tyra's response for their Next Top Model applications.

My poor children are always the victims of my frugalness. I found a rebate for the Science Diet Weight Loss system starter box & decided that Worm is a little chubby so checked it out. It is HUGE & contains enough food/treats for 30 days! If you have a chubby puppy, check it out but it expires July 31, so hurry. I just googled "Science Diet weight loss rebate". Anyway, she is not loving the pre portioned food, but we are giving her extra hugs in place of the food.

This bug is the best errand runner. He loves to play with this giant mirror at the cleaners that is literally hanging by a thumbtack, so I told him to sit down & eat his sucker (from the bank) & he sat down immediately. He seriously could kick butt in puppy obedience school.
Having a snack with the Worms. I am pretty sure those are not on her diet.
Because I am really slow at uploading my pics, these are from a few weeks ago when we got to hang out with Jack while Clare bought a house! They are hilarious together & I found myself timing their turns on certain toys.
It was really fun to have both of them together!
A boy. Always.

**Random cute eye thing: After his shots last week, I see him in the carseat taking off his glasses & patch (always), handing them to me & then pulling the bandaid off his leg & trying to put it on his eye! Probably doesn't happen after most 18 month old shots and I loved it!**

Video of him at the park. As usual, I don't edit, so you get some extra conversation and my breathing in there.

The woods of Dolly.

I LOVE Dolly Parton for so many reasons (her music, her ability to be fake & real at the same time, her honesty about her fakeness, her Splash Country, but MOST of all for her Woods! (Really, her Imagination Library will always win because she combines 2 of my favorite things: books & free, but Dollywood is the theme of the post.)Mom & Pops took us last week & it was so much fun!

I might have pushed a few people out of the way to get to the dragon in the middle, but then I (selflessly) gave it up when I realized that the outside was better for Anderson to be able to see Noni waving at us!

He saw the train! Mesmerized.
Now, if you think he is actually eating that pudding, you don't know Anderson very well. Who doesn't like chocolate pudding from Lillian's Chicken House? C'mon, Bug!
But, he did quite enjoy a snow cone! Of course the food he likes is ice, which is so high in calories & nutrition.

I love how the little bit of grape left on his face looks like a 5 o'clock shadow.

Wasn't sure if you knew, but

Anderson is really, really into trucks & tractors. It's a relatively new thing, so I wanted to share. Ha. The obsession continues.
Watching garbage truck videos on youtube. We are having a really hard time finding a dvd of garbage trucks. I found one but it's mostly just how they are made. While it is narrated by Mike Rowe, which is nice, we just need continuous footage of the actual trucks. His shirt says "Anderson's Garbage Service!" I bought the iron on transfer on ebay & it is not nearly as good quality as etsy stuff is but it was cheap & had a garbage truck.
We periodically take him to watch construction on the day care down the street from us. He will just stare & can point out the front loaders, dump trucks, backhoes, etc.

Found this shirt at the $1 sale at Adorable Child. We also have truck jammies from Bobble Cole that he got as a "febrile seizure" gift. She had ordered them before we even arrived at the hospital, I think. GG got him this great book with all kinds of trucks & tractors in it!

I found some truck stickers on clearance at Dollar General & he LOVES them. I am so bummed I didn't buy more packages, they were .80! Anyway, we give him one every few days or so & he acts like it's a truck. He drives it up his legs making truck noises, puts it on his shirt, drives it around in other trucks.
So focused as he is getting in place for the arrival of you know who.
The tractor had to go in the tub. At least it is clean now.

Just a little video from Aunt Manda's a few weeks ago.

Here is what precious looks like at 18 months!

New pics from Aunt Manda! She is so talented & MUCH appreciated!

Not to bring myself into this, but someone saw his Bobble. Grin.
Not sure what he saw here...

Gotta have just the one without the glasses. Not nearly as cute, though.

The bug at 18 months:

1. Sleeping: Awful. He is in the transitioning to 1 nap stage & I do not care for it. I like that morning nap-two little breaks in the day is pretty sweet. But, he does NOT sleep late at all in the mornings & I am trying to fix it. By "not late", I mean like between 3:38-4:50. I make him cry until at least 5:30, but it is awful because I can't really fall asleep with him crying & he does not fall back asleep, so he is so grumpy when I get him. He is just weird because he does not sleep later if he goes to bed later, he doesn't take better naps when he gets up early & he doesn't sleep longer if he only has 1 nap. My babycenter email said 11 hours of sleep at night & 2-3 hours during the day. If he ever slept for 2 hours during the day, I. I can't even finish that sentence. There is no thought. Anyway, we are working on this. I know it is just a weird time, so I went to my BFF, Google, & this is what I found:

So I am telling you all now. Do you hear me, internets? Here it is:

Your kid may have a serious, mind-blowingly awful sleep regression at around 18 months. It's not your fault, and it will pass.

I am not sure what an "internets" is, but I appreciated the straightforwardness.

2. Eating: I wouldn't say Anderson has been picky because that would require actually picking up food. There have been days where he literally ate 2 cheezits & a piece of banana. Really the only guaranteed thing he will eat is hashbrowns. He has recently discovered them. We have tried everything: toddler type finger foods, prepackaged toddler stuff, what we are eating,etc. I buy a few new things each week to try & I am also trying new recipes, like baked rotini. (Thanks, Lindsey!!) He weighs almost 23 lbs, which is 12th % & kind of shocking because I am not sure where the 23 lbs is from at all. A meal with Anderson is a lesson in patience & throwing food away. I swear we could feed some small nation with the food he doesn't eat.

3. Preciousness: He is such a person! I love hanging out with him. This is, for sure, my favorite age. I know I have said this before, but I didn't know this existed! He still loves (obsessed with) tractors/trucks of all kinds. He can make all of the noises, identify all of the different ones & sleeps with at least one every nights. He has so many words with the most popular being bobble, daddy, Chloe, Gabbi, water, ball, anything & everything related to a truck or tractor (their names, starting noise, back up noise-beep, beep, beep, driving noises). I realize these are not technically words, but you get the idea. My favorites are, "Oh, no", "All gone" (rhymes with bone) & "Get Down!" (frantic with hand motions)

4. Favorites: Truck table that's really a train table that cost $15 at a garage sale, everything on the truck table, popsicles, Bobble, playing in any kind of water, especially the dog bowl, watching garbage trucks on my phone, climbing on furniture, playing on the beds, laying on Chloe & Gabbi, chalk, his spray butter bottle, the Spot book, the tractor dvd, books with pictures of family in them that Mom made him, Bobble Cole truck book, pajamas with trucks/tractors on them, pillows, doing exactly what we are doing all of the time. He also loves his Lily. He will pick up her picture & kiss her, stroke her little face & talk to her. So, so cute.