Eye Exam

Graysie has worn glasses since she was four years old. Everyone asked me when she got glasses how I knew she needed them and my answer was always "well when your child looks at you like this ..(I'd go cross-eyed here)...it's a pretty good sign that SOMETHING isn't right" When we had her first exam they told me that one of her eyes is near sighted and one is far sighted (that explains the crossed eyes huh?) so her eyes were having trouble working together. Now, personally, I had never heard of that, although I still have 20/20 vision so I haven't spent much time in the eye doctor office either. They also explained that in the next few years her eye sight could improve.



Yesterday, I took her to the eye doctor and her one eye did improve but her other eye had worsened so she is still in glasses. Like I told her birth mom, Amanda, I think she is adorable in glasses but I am also not the one that has to wear them. The good news is that Graysie is very responsible when it comes to the care of her glasses so it is no hassle for me.....which is very important of course!



Now, the point of this story is not to tell you Graysie has glasses still. No, the point in this story is what happens before and after the eye exam ( and any other appointment we have for that matter). Yes, we are like our own little traveling circus. When we walk into places we definitely stir up questions. Picture this, I walk into a quiet building with seven kids in tow. First thing people have to do is decide WHO the mom is, considering the height on Emma. Once they have it figured out they hesitantly ask if they can help me (I think they all secretly pray that they can't) when I say I am here for an appointment they always ask "for ALL of them?". In this case I say no, and they hand me a clipboard to fill out. Most people get directed to the waiting room, I , on the other hand am told that I can sit in the waiting room but that they are sorry for the small size and that they don't have enough chairs for all of us. I usually say something like "oh, their kids they don't mind" as I walk towards the waiting room. My kids love to look at the magazines and books so they are perfectly content to sit and look (and the ones who aren't are hopefully remembering my threats from the parking lot). Once they call us back for the exam I always give them the run down on our way to the room it goes something like "I'm sure you don't have a room to accomadate and audience of this size?" they say something like "it will be snug" where I proceed to tell them "what I'd prefer, so we aren't all crammed in and distracted, is for the children who aren't being examined to sit in the hallway and we will leave the door open so that I can still see them but we can stay focused on the task at hand" I am pretty sure they are always thinking "great six kids sitting in the hallway for us to walk over for the next 20 min" but they always let me do it, and I have to admit I don't know how it would work any other way. The great thing is that my kids are really awesome so they never distract other patients or get in the way. At our pediatricians office they know the protocol so they give us the room next to the book shelf so the kids have something more to do than wait. Again, the kids are so great that when we are leaving we have more questions than when we are coming in. I think partly because they are relieved to have their lobby freed up and because they have finally realized that as insane as I look, I am a pretty normal human being after all.



Yesterday, the funniest question I think we've gotten to date was "can you each say the kids in your family in order really fast?" Of course they can, so they each showed this extraordinary talent to the receptionist who was in awe. By the time Graysie's prescription was filled the receptionist could rattle off the kids' names in order too! Fun world we live in isn't it?