Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
February Fun
Well, my goal of monthly posts is looking more like every 2 months now! It's been a busy couple months since Christmas. Lucas isn't a big fan of the snow but we've managed to get him out a couple of times - the thought of losing contacts in the snow is a little scary!
We FINALLY got Lucas's glasses just after my last post. It is such a relief to finally have back-up correction! The difference in his vision is definitely noticeable in glasses compared to contact lenses, and makes us even more thankful that we have the option of the contacts. While they are great as a back-up and to have to use during baths and swimming, he has to look directly through the centre of the glasses to get the full correction. At this age it is tough to make that happen consistently. If these were his only option, his brain would likely not be developing the same quality of vision he is gaining by having the contacts.
He says "ga-ga" for glasses and blinks his eyes for contacts now. For the most part he leaves the glasses on when he wears them, but lately that has been more of an issue - I'll explain that later!
We were back to see our pediatric opthamologist in Hamilton in January for a follow up visit. It went something like this: "He's good. It's good. Everything's good. I'm happy. You're happy. It's good. Come back in a couple months. Let's make it 3 months. It's all good." I told him the contacts are falling out about once a day - his response? "It's good. If they fall out 20 times a day then come back and we'll look at the fit again but once a day is okay." Easy for him to say - he's not the one crawling on hands and knees desperately searching for an impossibly small blue disc at any given time of the day! But who am I to argue with "it's all good" - so no more scheduled trips to Hamilton until the spring, when we will likely have another exam under anesthetic to re-check eye pressures and do updated measurements. We were also able to pick up the back-up contact lenses we had ordered so at least if we lose one we have a replacement.
We have only lost one lens in the last couple months - and frustratingly enough it was when we were in Florida and we know it is in the hotel room but couldn't find it. I have found lost lenses in the middle of the floor at Chapters (I somewhat terrified my friend's 2 year old who was running across the floor directly in line with the lens when I did my slow motion dive across the floor shouting "Noooooo...." - but I saved the lens!), one lens was miraculously recovered after losing it at Maiya's gymnastics club - which inconveniently has floors made of blue mats, making searching for a blue lens somewhat difficult - not to mention dodging the 30 kids doing gymnastics around me while searching on hands and knees...), and the other night at the table we realized he had, for the first time, lost BOTH lenses - and we found one under the table, which narrowly missed being eaten by our dog Buddy, and the other was on the other side of the kitchen on the floor by the dishwasher. I wish I had pictures to show just how crazy it is to actually find the lenses in these places!
Our luck did run out in Florida as I mentioned - for a number of reasons! We started the trip by waking the kids up in the middle of the night to head to the airport - and when we turned the light on realized Lucas's left eye was swollen half shut. It was fine when he went to bed so we had no idea what happened. Scary enough with any child, but with him anything eye-related is somewhat likely to induce panic for us! The picture was what it looked like to start and it got progressively worse by the time we arrived in Orlando.
So off we went on a trip that was riddled with trouble (nothing life-threatening but just one thing after another going wrong!) and spent the first day in Florida finding a doctor to check out his eye. Fortunately it seems that it was something on the external lid and only needed treatments of warm compresses (still no idea what actually caused it). As a result, he had to wear his glasses for half the week - and as I mentioned earlier, he got sick of that pretty quick and no longer leaves them on for very long! They were great when he was in the pool though as he could at least see what was going on around him for the most part. We were able to put his contacts back in towards the end of the trip which was great other than losing one!
We spent one day together at Universal in Orlando. One of the best moments was getting a picture with Gru, from the movie Despicable Me, which Maiya loves. We tried to get Lucas to smile but he couldn't really see very well, so we said it was okay and went to walk away. "Gru" stopped us and pulled the stroller towards him and knelt down and spent a few minutes trying to get Lucas to smile. It was a great moment, so sweet and so great of "Gru" to take the time to do that! We decided Lucas looked like one of his "minions" from the movie.
Unfortunately the trip required a second emergency doctor visit as Lucas then developed an ear/chest/throat infection and spent several nights up with fever, coughing and difficulty breathing. Poor little guy. So our plans were rearranged a bit but we did manage to get him in the pool at the end of the week for a bit of fun - I think he will be a swimmer for sure!
Maiya had a blast at Universal and at Disney. She loved the new Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom and meeting characters was fun as always. We made it to Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba too and it was pretty amazing to watch Lucas watching the show (well - the first 45 minutes, and then he got a bit restless!). The pool at the hotel was fantastic, including a big waterslide and a pirate ship! She loved the waterslide and managed to perfect a few new tricks in the pool. (there is a video link after the waterslide picture so if you are reading on an iPad check it out on another device to see the video).
Lucas has also been discharged from Occupational Therapy at KidsAbility after his follow-up visit - he is pretty much on track developmentally for gross and fine motor. He has a speech and language follow up in March which we expect he will be discharged from as well, although they may monitor him for another 6 months because he is ESL. He signs for "please", "milk", "more", "thank-you" and is saying (his version at least) lots of words - "Poppa", "cracker", "All done", "Scout", "Up", "Cheese", and his newest - "G.G." - for Great Grandma Myra.
We missed celebrating Tet (Vietnamese New Year) because of the trip and another function, but our fabulous friends Regan and Erica took Maiya to the New Year Party in Waterloo for us and she had a blast. I once again attempted joint photos of the two in their ao dais, and managed to get one at least before Lucas was off and running. I have a feeling this will be the case for awhile since he is constantly on the move! We are looking forward to celebrating together on Saturday at the annual Tet party in Toronto that we have attended every year since Maiya came home.
We FINALLY got Lucas's glasses just after my last post. It is such a relief to finally have back-up correction! The difference in his vision is definitely noticeable in glasses compared to contact lenses, and makes us even more thankful that we have the option of the contacts. While they are great as a back-up and to have to use during baths and swimming, he has to look directly through the centre of the glasses to get the full correction. At this age it is tough to make that happen consistently. If these were his only option, his brain would likely not be developing the same quality of vision he is gaining by having the contacts.
He says "ga-ga" for glasses and blinks his eyes for contacts now. For the most part he leaves the glasses on when he wears them, but lately that has been more of an issue - I'll explain that later!
We were back to see our pediatric opthamologist in Hamilton in January for a follow up visit. It went something like this: "He's good. It's good. Everything's good. I'm happy. You're happy. It's good. Come back in a couple months. Let's make it 3 months. It's all good." I told him the contacts are falling out about once a day - his response? "It's good. If they fall out 20 times a day then come back and we'll look at the fit again but once a day is okay." Easy for him to say - he's not the one crawling on hands and knees desperately searching for an impossibly small blue disc at any given time of the day! But who am I to argue with "it's all good" - so no more scheduled trips to Hamilton until the spring, when we will likely have another exam under anesthetic to re-check eye pressures and do updated measurements. We were also able to pick up the back-up contact lenses we had ordered so at least if we lose one we have a replacement.
We have only lost one lens in the last couple months - and frustratingly enough it was when we were in Florida and we know it is in the hotel room but couldn't find it. I have found lost lenses in the middle of the floor at Chapters (I somewhat terrified my friend's 2 year old who was running across the floor directly in line with the lens when I did my slow motion dive across the floor shouting "Noooooo...." - but I saved the lens!), one lens was miraculously recovered after losing it at Maiya's gymnastics club - which inconveniently has floors made of blue mats, making searching for a blue lens somewhat difficult - not to mention dodging the 30 kids doing gymnastics around me while searching on hands and knees...), and the other night at the table we realized he had, for the first time, lost BOTH lenses - and we found one under the table, which narrowly missed being eaten by our dog Buddy, and the other was on the other side of the kitchen on the floor by the dishwasher. I wish I had pictures to show just how crazy it is to actually find the lenses in these places!
Our luck did run out in Florida as I mentioned - for a number of reasons! We started the trip by waking the kids up in the middle of the night to head to the airport - and when we turned the light on realized Lucas's left eye was swollen half shut. It was fine when he went to bed so we had no idea what happened. Scary enough with any child, but with him anything eye-related is somewhat likely to induce panic for us! The picture was what it looked like to start and it got progressively worse by the time we arrived in Orlando.
So off we went on a trip that was riddled with trouble (nothing life-threatening but just one thing after another going wrong!) and spent the first day in Florida finding a doctor to check out his eye. Fortunately it seems that it was something on the external lid and only needed treatments of warm compresses (still no idea what actually caused it). As a result, he had to wear his glasses for half the week - and as I mentioned earlier, he got sick of that pretty quick and no longer leaves them on for very long! They were great when he was in the pool though as he could at least see what was going on around him for the most part. We were able to put his contacts back in towards the end of the trip which was great other than losing one!
We spent one day together at Universal in Orlando. One of the best moments was getting a picture with Gru, from the movie Despicable Me, which Maiya loves. We tried to get Lucas to smile but he couldn't really see very well, so we said it was okay and went to walk away. "Gru" stopped us and pulled the stroller towards him and knelt down and spent a few minutes trying to get Lucas to smile. It was a great moment, so sweet and so great of "Gru" to take the time to do that! We decided Lucas looked like one of his "minions" from the movie.
Unfortunately the trip required a second emergency doctor visit as Lucas then developed an ear/chest/throat infection and spent several nights up with fever, coughing and difficulty breathing. Poor little guy. So our plans were rearranged a bit but we did manage to get him in the pool at the end of the week for a bit of fun - I think he will be a swimmer for sure!
Maiya had a blast at Universal and at Disney. She loved the new Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom and meeting characters was fun as always. We made it to Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba too and it was pretty amazing to watch Lucas watching the show (well - the first 45 minutes, and then he got a bit restless!). The pool at the hotel was fantastic, including a big waterslide and a pirate ship! She loved the waterslide and managed to perfect a few new tricks in the pool. (there is a video link after the waterslide picture so if you are reading on an iPad check it out on another device to see the video).
Lucas has also been discharged from Occupational Therapy at KidsAbility after his follow-up visit - he is pretty much on track developmentally for gross and fine motor. He has a speech and language follow up in March which we expect he will be discharged from as well, although they may monitor him for another 6 months because he is ESL. He signs for "please", "milk", "more", "thank-you" and is saying (his version at least) lots of words - "Poppa", "cracker", "All done", "Scout", "Up", "Cheese", and his newest - "G.G." - for Great Grandma Myra.
We missed celebrating Tet (Vietnamese New Year) because of the trip and another function, but our fabulous friends Regan and Erica took Maiya to the New Year Party in Waterloo for us and she had a blast. I once again attempted joint photos of the two in their ao dais, and managed to get one at least before Lucas was off and running. I have a feeling this will be the case for awhile since he is constantly on the move! We are looking forward to celebrating together on Saturday at the annual Tet party in Toronto that we have attended every year since Maiya came home.
January was a bit emotional as that marked 1 year from the time our agency's director first met Lucas and took his picture, the picture that started a chain of events that led to surgery and the first steps towards him being able to see - and to eventually be part of our family. February 18th was Family Day in Ontario, and fittingly marked 6 months from the first time we held Lucas in our arms and brought him "home" with us. This is the original photo that Dorinda took that day in January 2012.
Needless to say - when you look at it next to the pictures from the last couple of months, there really are no words to describe it. He is now the most beautiful, mischievous and funny little man and when I think about what he has achieved in the last 6 months, and in the last year, I can't wait to see what the future holds for him.
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