When we realized the frames were being stretched due to the size of the lenses and repeated regluing, I found the plastic frames online and bought two more pairs. That worked for a while but then the lenses started going again. Then I had an idea: I'd let her wear the second pair of new frames but I wouldn't put her lenses in them. Would she notice a difference?
She can barely see anything. I was mostly certain her lenses were doing nothing at all by way of helping her see things. So I just gave her plain plastic glasses. And she couldn't tell. The new glasses were lighter and comfortable and she liked them. And that's when I realized this changes everything with glasses for her.
We can get her any glasses we find, including sunglasses which were not possible in her prescription and the fitovers didn't fit over well at her small size. To do a test, I went to the dollar store and got several options. I knew she liked things with style she could feel so I got some with crystals and some with interesting shapes that looked small enough to fit her head tightly.
My husband had the second part of the solution. She has always had a strap around the back of her head at the base of her skull going from the end of each eyeglass arm. This prevented them from coming off and she wore them night and day. He found children's eyeglass ear hooks. It's a small rubber attachment that slides onto the end of each arm and nestles up against the back of the ear. It's soft and comfortable and keeps the glasses on.
At seven dollars for a pack of ten pairs of ear hooks and five dollars for five pairs of glasses and sunglasses for my daughter we've suddenly given her an entirely new way of both wearing glasses including sunglasses. The glasses I got were reader glasses and have some magnification, but I don't think they help much. The ear hooks she loves.
She can swap glasses and sunglasses easily now and change pairs based on her stylish whim, something she's never been able to do before. And—and this is the really important part—she will be wearing glasses all the time to protect her eyes. That's what her glasses have been doing for the majority of the time she's had them. Yes, they helped her see somewhat, but they protected her more than anything.
I wish we needed to buy expensive lenses and prescription glasses because they helped her see, but since they don't help, it's nice to be able to have fun with glasses at least.
The Big Boy Update: My son is at Nana and Papa's house. He was supposed to come home mid-day but we've gotten calls twice that he wants to stay for longer. I found out on the second call he'd also had a shower and was clean. I love that they all love to spend time together.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wanted to go to the pool today after music therapy. She had a call from Nana and upon hanging up told me Nana wanted us to go to the pool. She told me in such a way that it was a mandate from Nana. Interestingly enough just before her phone rang she had been telling me I had to take her to the pool. I was in the middle of cleaning the house that had gotten out of hand over the last week of school. I told her if she could help me get the laundry done maybe we could go, but I needed help as I had several hours more work to do. She didn't want to help. Then she began her passive-aggressive campaign by talking out loud to herself making sure I was in earshot. Read this in a sad, disconsolate voice with sighs between each sentence:
"It’s my dreams. I’m not meant to be on land. I just want to go to the only water where I can swim down and touch the bottom. It’s the only source of water that I’m allowed to use...because I’m not sixteen. If I was sixteen I’d go right now to the dang pool. But I’m not. I have years to go. Exactly eight years. <cue singing> I want to be at the pool. I want to see the waters again. I wish I was a fish. I wish I had other friends of different species who spoke the language of the sea. I wish I had some hope."
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