At the beginning of this school year, Riley started telling me that she couldn't see the board in her classroom very well. I thought she was just being dramatic, and didn't pay much attention. I'm such a good mom, you see, that I know when something is urgent and when something is not.....??....
I go to Riley's class every week, and I love doing that. I enjoy helping her teacher, and I especially like working with the kids. A month or so ago, I was there when the kids had to complete some sentences they were reading from the overhead projector in the front. I heard Riley's teacher ask, "Riley, why are you still only on number two?" Riley replied, "I can't figure out what the first word in the second line is." I knew it wasn't a reading issue. She is not at the very top of her class, but she is a good solid reader.
The teacher then told me that she thought Riley should get her eyes checked. She said to Riley, "I'm going to give you a note to go to the nurse right now, and let her give you a quick eye check." Riley started to cry. I went to the nurse with her. I tried to get her to stop crying. When she didn't stop crying, I tried to get her to explain the crying. When that didn't work either, I just took her to the nurse, and Riley took an eye test through her tears.
As I watched her take that eye test, I had to be careful not to cry myself. I was stunned by how much she could not read on that eye chart. I could so easily see what she could not see. I felt terrible for not paying attention to what she had been trying to tell me. I think that was why she was crying.....because she had been trying to tell me. I don't know that for a fact. She never really said. When we left the nurse, I tried to get her to talk to me. She only said that she guessed she was a little scared. The large amount of crying didn't match that small reason. She didn't stop crying either. After a few minutes I told her that I guessed we would just have to change the subject, so she could pull herself together and get back to class.
When we made her appointment at the eye doctor, I told Riley I had a feeling she was going to get glasses, and that we would pick out some really CUTE ones. The appointment took forever. I feel for anyone who has to take a child younger than seven for such an appointment. It was hard for her to sit still enough, and answer questions about when things were in better focus.
As it turns out, Riley has a lot of astigmatism. I can't believe I didn't know it before. The doctor said he is only correcting her vision to 20/40 or so, because she wouldn't be able to handle more of an adjustment than that right now. The older kids and I don't have glasses, so this is all new to us. Jeff had to get them when he was a kid. He said that when he walked out of the office with his new glasses, that the sidewalk freaked him out.
Riley was excited about the cute, colorful glasses available to choose from. I am so glad it can be a positive experience that way. I liked a brown pair, but how silly is that? She chose a bright pinkish, raspberryish color.
Because of the long appointment, which started at 3:00, and then a mix up in paper work, we were still there at 4:30. We were surprised at that point to see Riley's teacher walk into the room. She had a stack of letters that the kids had written to the eye doctor that day. (It wasn't Riley's doctor, but another man in the same office.) She showed me Riley's letter. In the letter, she said she probably had to get glasses. She drew a picture of a girl with brown hair, and pinkish purplish glasses. I wish I had snatched it. I think I needed that letter more than the eye doctor did. It was really adorable to me, how she had pretty much decided what she wanted her new glasses to look like before we got there. I loved the timing on all of it. How nice for Riley to write that letter on that day, and then get to see her teacher delivering it. And how nice for me to get to see that picture!
The two weeks that we waited for the glasses to be ready, different people told me their glasses experiences. One friend said her son exclaimed about the beauty of a bougainvillea bush, and it made her want to cry. I precried (now who was being dramatic?) about the moments we would surely experience when Riley finally saw the world for the first time. Riley did not exclaim in amazement about anything beautiful. She took my arm, because the sidewalk freaked her out. She didn't hear her dad say that either!! I loved it, and I didn't have to be crazy and emotional either.
When we got home, Emilee complimented Riley's glasses and asked, "So, do I look any different to you?" Riley's answer was, "Well, I think your head might look a little bigger." Hilarious!
You can't see how pink they are in this picture, but they are quite pink!
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