Wow! It seems like I have been away for quite a while. The MN weather had been ironically beautiful for January up until two days ago and so the children and I had been spending a lot of time outdoors. Here is the little bit of snow we had along our property line from Tuesday. It is a little more white outside today, but still not completely white. The only thing I fear with the warm temps we had (up to 50’s on Tuesday) and lack of snow, how deep freezing will go when it finally stays cold and if we will have enough precipitation to have a productive growing season. It is supposed to be around 4 degrees tonight. Brr!! A 46 degree difference in a matter of days. I guess that is why some people say “Minnesota, the land of extremes.”
We were even playing in the sandbox in January. Here is Caleb (1 yr) tossing a handful of sand
Jayden was swinging (3 yrs)
Layne (5 yr) is my elusive subject to be photographed, but I did get a smile out of her
Triscuit and Callie out enjoying the day
I guess we can reflect on those warm days getting us closer to spring and longer days of daylight.
Eye Patching
In December, I took my two youngest, Caleb and Jayden, in for eye check-ups (just recommended for their age). Caleb was good, but the Dr. thought Jayden had a lazy eye and I had mentioned odd movement to her eye at her 1-year-old check-up, but nothing was found abnormal by other optometrist so my husband I thought what we were noticing would maybe get better on its own. It seemed like Jayden would bring her right eye further inward than the left at times, especially if she was scared or angry. It was noted to occur quite a bit on the Dec. exam. We were then referred to a specialist for Jayden.
I took her about a week later to an eye specialist in Otsego. After exam and testing, it was found that she was cross eyed and the Dr. thought she had decreased movement outward in her left eye. She was also a bit far sighted, enough the Dr. thought correction was needed. I was told the condition of being cross eyed can develop and birth and not naturally correct itself, or it happens when the child is 2-3 years old child due to them fine tuning their motor skills. This made my heart sink. I wish I would have pursued a second opinion after her 1-year-old exam.
Here she is in her glasses
The Dr. explained that being cross eyed or having strabismus, was a weakness in communication between the nerves in the eye and brain, not an issue of an eye muscle.
She gave us two exercises to perform with Jayden. The one for stretching a muscle in her left eye and increasing the movement outward was likeable, just to sit on an office chair with her and swivel back and forth for 10 mn, two times a day when watching television. The Dr. called this exercise “doll’s eye”. The other exercise could not be started until the glasses came in to correct Jayden being farsighted. It took a little under a week. I was to patch each eye for two hours a day. It was a challenge to get her used to wearing glasses, even more so to wear the patch.
We were finally up to the recommended time the beginning of January. I purchased a small “I Can Wear My Patch” star board for her to put up a star on when she completed the recommended time of patching off of Amazon and we are doing some small rewards. I picked up a $16 patch at the clinic we went to from www.patchpals.com.
They had some with a decorative ironed on patch on the front of them, but I wasn’t sure how it would look with switching back and forth between each eye so I opted for a plain one. There is an elastic band for the bow of the glasses. Jayden was not interested in being a “pirate”, as we first attempted. This patch blocks quite a bit below and above frame too and she complained of it rubbing on her face.
I then searched online and found a company called www.patchme.com. The woman sold through Etsy and E-Bay and had created her patches after patching her own daughter for lazy eye. I asked Jayden want pattern she wanted and so we got one with ladybugs. She is liking the title of a “ladybug pirate”.
It seems to have less slack on top and bottom.
I will be taking Jayden to Otsego again the end of the month for a re-check and to see what the Dr. recommends at that time. Hopefully the Dr. doesn’t mind that we went with a different patch than what her clinic sold. The new patch has allowed her to tolerate her patching sessions.
