He can see!

John is catching up on his morning nap - we've just returned from Mac to see the eye doctor.

Turns out, this was just a screening visit. Everyone sees the big doc, but the screen determines how long you wait to get in. Without the receptionist's pity, John's visit would have been next July, which tells you how well he did. However, the receptionist didn't think that was very fair, so our appointment is in January.

Obviously, the screening went well. John's eyes are actually in perfect allignment. The laziness is just an optical illusion. His bridge is flat, which it is for all babies his age, and he has large folds of skin on the inside corners of his eyes, which is also normal for his age, and they work together to make it LOOK like his eyes aren't lined up properly when he looks to the side. In reality, he can follow and focus just fine, and his pupils move in perfect unison. As his face matures, a bridge will rise up, that skin will pull back and that illusion will vanish.

She said it's pretty typical, nothing to worry about. She noted that he probably did have a legitimate wandering eye when he was younger - lots of babies do. All that remains now is the illusion, so to an untrained eye it looks like the problem is still there, just in a less severe form.

John did really well, especialy considering he would normally be asleep then. He seemed to really like it - she had a little light, and got him to follow different toys from side to side and around the room, while she checked his eyes with the light. I think he followed because she had a light - to heck with the toys.

The next appointment will be a routine eye exam - if she had seen anything that concerned her today, it would be very soon, and more involved, but his will just be routine. He'll get drops, so the doc can check for any eye diseases, and she will check to see if he needs glasses. Sometimes the eye strain of needing glasses can cause a lazy eye, but his is just an illusion, not a real lazy eye, which is why it isn't urgent to have it checked. Though she did warn me that he will probably become near-sighted as he grows older, due to genetics.

So all is well. The receptionist discovered his teeth the hard way. She was playing with his hand, when he grabbed one of her fingers, rammed it in his mouth and bit down. Hard. She yelped; he laughed at her. That's my boy.

Again, his Robeez were a hit - everyone loves them. Send me some of your business cards if you put them online for mail order, Mom and Dad. His stroller got a couple of compliments, too. Moms think the big wheels are cool.

A tiny part of me is sad his eyes are fine. Doc West said he'd probably need a patch to correct the lazy eye, so I was going to take a picture of him wearing it, with a caption like " Arrrrr...wee pirate John." Oh well!