First - an update on Lucas's vision. Getting correction has been frustrating to say the least! After his exam under anesthetic, we had hoped to have new contact lenses within a week and a pair of glasses shortly after. We ended up waiting almost 2 weeks for the lenses and for the prescription for the glasses, and unfortunately having lost one of his lenses we had almost 2 weeks with no vision correction for him. It was very noticeable by the end of the 2 weeks in terms of his behaviour and mood - and who can blame him after finally starting to learn to see and then going back to having very limited vision!
We went back to Hamilton for the new lenses which are rigid lenses this time. I was not a fan but they have not been as bad as I was anticipating. The advantage is these have a blue tint so when they shift in his eye or are on the floor they are a bit easier to see (but the downside is they are breakable)! They stayed in really well for the first couple weeks but we are now losing them about once a day. We thought we lost one permanently, but we found it about a week and a half later in the crib. I found one in the bottom of a blue toy bucket - exactly the same colour as the lens, once underneath the toy box, on the steps, on the floor - you name it, we have found it!
We ordered a new pair after thinking the first pair was lost, but since they are custom made in Alberta they did not arrive before the holidays and the 2 week shutdown. The glasses - still waiting. We ordered them and after waiting for a few weeks called to check in - and found out one of the lenses had been broken and had to be re-ordered - from Florida. And again, they did not come in before the holidays, and the University of Waterloo office is closed until January as well. So it will basically take us close to 2 months to get these glasses - and we're thinking we should order a back-up pair since they take so long (but they are over $300 a pair too so without having any insurance that covers it, we will hold off for now!).
The glasses will not replace the use of the lenses, but they will allow us much more flexibility and better correction because he can have them on immediately when he wakes up, until we put the lenses in, and he can wear them as soon as we take the lenses out at night, which means correction pretty much the entire time he is awake, rather than the half hour or so in the morning and evening that he doesn't have the contacts in. They will also be helpful if someone else is babysitting him, or if we lose a contact and don't have a backup, etc.
With his vision improving, it is very noticeable now when he does not have one lens in. Before we could get away with it (not that we wanted to, but because of the issues we were having getting lenses in for him) but now you can almost see the brain trying to re-wire when he loses the vision in one eye when a contact falls out.
So we are getting closer to having good, consistent correction, but it is taking WAY longer than we anticipated and a lot more hurdles than expected too! We may have to try a different contact lens type too to try for a better fit if these keep falling out.
In terms of other development - well, he is basically fantastic. He is BUSY - gets into everything, climbs the stairs in seconds if you don't watch him - and is on the run! Once he got used to the new contacts he started trying to walk again, and by Christmas was going everywhere. He has just figured out how to stand up on his own without pulling up too. It is still strange to turn around and have him standing behind me or to hear his little footsteps running around! He still crawls, but is walking more than crawling now.
He is trying to say lots of words - he says more, thank-you, dada, mama, Yaya (Maiya), Santa, up, down, Poppa, waves hello and bye-bye, and puts his arms up for "hurray". He loves the songs on the iPad and knows to hit the screen to make the page turn to the next part. The Wheels on the Bus and the Itsy Bitsy Spider are his favourite.
Maiya's 6th birthday kicked off the start to the busy holiday season. Hard to believe that the little 6 month old baby we brought home is now a smart, beautiful, mischievous and funny 6 year old.
We had a great party with a few of her friends at the Homer Watson House & Art Gallery and the kids had fun making plasticene portraits of themselves.
Maiya is a fantastic big sister and Lucas absolutely adores her. She is doing great in her Gr. 1 French Immersion class and she is incredible at reading - I still find it hard to believe that she is reading chapter books already. I have never enjoyed listening to others read, always preferring to read myself, but I could listen to her read all day long!
Lucas had his first Santa encounter at Brett's ConAgra Kids Christmas Party. Maiya looks forward to the event every year and had a blast once again. She got the game Apples to Apples and has played it every day since!
We had my family for Christmas on the 23rd. Unfortunately my brother, Breydon, and family couldn't make it but hopefully we will see them soon. Lucas had fun running around with his cousins and opening presents. He is more excited about ripping paper into tiny little pieces than anything, but he loved the gifts too! Maiya lost her "first" tooth right before we opened gifts. She's had two wiggly teeth on the bottom for about a week. It's technically the 2nd tooth she's lost, but the first one was a damaged one that came out courtesy of the dentist - this was the first to come out on its own.
So, a visit from the tooth fairy on the night of the 23rd was followed by a visit from 7 of Santa's reindeer in the backyard on the 24th. It was our first visit this winter from the deer and well-timed for Christmas Eve!
My parents and my grandma stayed over on the 23rd and we enjoyed having Grandma Alma hang out with us for the day. Lucas and Maiya got to spend some quality time with their great-grandma. Lucas had some serious conversation with her while he ate his lunch, and Maiya enjoyed a few intense rounds of Uno with her later on!
My cousin, Matthew, came to pick Grandma up and was roped into a serious game of "fairy" - he looked great in his fairy wings I have to say. They thought his girlfriend, Nicole, might be jealous of Matthew's wings so we had to take a picture to show her!
Christmas Eve brought new pj's and lots of excitement getting ready for Santa's visit. Maiya was determined to stay up to catch Santa - when Brett went to check on her around 11, she opened her eyes and said, "Daddy, I'm going to wait up for Santa, but I'm going to sleep while I wait." I tried to get a decent shot of the 2 kids together but Lucas must have snuck some Christmas treats earlier in the day because he was WIRED and we couldn't get him to sit still for the shot!
Christmas morning came too early for us, but with an excited 6 year old and a wiggly 16 month old, there's not much to do but get up and enjoy the moment! Later in the morning we headed back to Brussels for Christmas with Brett's family. Lucas had fun chasing his "big" cousin River around (he is a month older so they make quite a pair). Unfortunately G.G. (Great-Grandma Myra) wasn't feeling up to joining us but we had a nice chat on the phone and will hopefully catch up soon.
On the 29th we headed out to Stouffville to finally introduce Lucas to his Great-Grandma Anna. Even though it was short, we had a great visit. Lucas played "pat-a-cake" with her and checked out her new room and Maiya and Grandma had fun checking out Grandma's stuffed animals and comparing their blue sweaters. Although we don't get to see her often, Grandma Anna holds a special place in our hearts and we were so glad we got to visit.
From Stouffville we headed on to Oshawa for the Clarkson Christmas. It was a full house, with almost everyone there. Great-Grandma Muriel (Brett's grandma) passed away in the fall before we were able to introduce her to Lucas, but we had lots of good memories to share of her at Christmas. Uncle Bob and Aunt Rhonda once again did a great job of hosting the crew!
As the year is almost finished it is hard to believe how much has changed for us in 2012. We started the year as a family of 3 (plus Buddy of course), and in March saw the end of our 4 year wait for a referral as we accepted Lucas into our family (on paper!). 5 months of waiting finally led us to Vietnam and Lucas officially made us a family of 4. The final few months of the year have been a whirlwind of appointments and adjustments as Lucas has gotten settled and as we tackle each new aspect of his vision. So as one amazing year comes to a close, we look forward to all the adventures and possibilities that 2013 will bring us and wish everyone a Happy New Year!
