a trip to the eye doctor

OK, about a month ago, I noticed Carl's eyes crossing independently. Weird, but no panic. I asked his teacher and she hadn't seen it. Then, the next day - she said "I saw it! He had a helicopter and when he flew it past his face, only one eye turned in." So, she said 'trust your gut' and had a story about her mother getting her younger sister help when no one else would listen.

So, it continued and I still didn't really get too excited, but now it was starting to make me think it might be something I would like to put behind us before kindergarten. So, I looked up a Pediatric Ophthalmologist in our area. None popped up, so I called our pediatrician's office to see if they had someone to recommend. We have the kind of insurance that requires no referral for specialists, so all I needed was a name. They gave me the name of the one in our area and sang his praises! Apparently, this guy is The Best! They also said he was booking in May at this point, but if we brought him into the pediatrician's office and the doctor thought he needed to be seen sooner, they might be able to get him in earlier. So, I booked an appt with the pediatrician... looking for the extra "in".

Then, I called this Wonderful Pediatric Ophthalmologist's office. He was not booking in May. The next available appointment was JULY 13th!!! I grabbed it, thinking I didn't really need it since the pediatrician was going to hook me up earlier.

Then, I got to thinking about how far away that was. So, I called my ophthalmologist (I am getting tired of typing that) to see if they could see him. I did know they see kids in the practice. That was last Friday... I got an appt for today! Cool. Fast. I even asked the receptionist about the other doctor and she said, "This is my opinion, but if we find something of a concern here, we will refer you to him. " I cancelled the pediatrician's appointment. I didn't need their help, I was going to have the "in" from an ophthalmologist. That has to carry more weight, right? Let's face it... what was my pediatrician really going to know about eyes? 100% guarantee he was going to send me to the specialist.

So, now I was feeling pretty good. I was going to get the "Nothing to worry about" at today's appointment and cancel the mid July appt with the specialist, or, get the bump from the office and get into the specialist in a matter of mere days. My child's eyes would be that important.

We dropped off Gretchen and told the teacher where we were going. She said Carl told her yesterday that he was going to get drops in his eyes at the eye doctor. I had been preparing him for that. And I was worried because I was at the office only a couple weeks ago and those drops sting like crazy for about 30 seconds. And, for adults, they told me the effects of the dilation would last 4 hours. (It lasted a lot longer.) When I booked Carl's appointment, they told me in kids, it lasts all day. Great.

So, we were right on time for our appointment. We waited probably 15-20 minutes only in the waiting room. The TV in that room was turned to a full time news channel. Didn't catch which one. They did have beads on wires for him to play with, but that was all. I thought he was being very good. Some of the old people waiting smiled and commented on his energy. And mentioned their own grand kids. He was pretty happy there was a drinking fountain in the waiting room and I let him have free access.

Once they called us back, the nurse took his history then had him sit in the big chair and look at an eye chart. I kept telling her, "He'd do better with the real letter one" but she claimed she had to use this kid one. So, she showed him these little pictures and he was supposed to identify them. They looked like little stencils - you know - where the design has breaks in it? So, the guy on a horse was all broken up. The sideways bike or four wheeler was pretty abstract, too. And, Carl has some communication issues at times. He didn't do so well (in my opinion).

Then she handed him a plastic thing to cover one eye and asked him to identify numbers that were hidden within a circle of many dots..... a color blind test. He got the first one right immediately. Then, he didn't answer a single one. Not that he identified them incorrectly, he didn't answer her at all. By now, I knew this office wasn't all that special needs friendly. I knew he knew the answers, but I couldn't get him to answer either. And the plastic eye cover thing was insane to hand a 5 year old. Good luck with that.

So, after about 5 incorrect ones she said "He's color blind" and I mentioned that his speech therapist is constantly telling me he had trouble differentiating between colors. And I do not believe her. And I love her. He knows his colors. Well, once she heard that she was fully convinced and firmed up her diagnosis. She even went so far as to tell me that speech therapy and color blindness go hand in hand. She did not have an explanation for me when I pushed for one.

But wait.... there's more.... she asked if there was any history of it and I told her Kenny is red/green color blind. Well. That's it. Carl is color blind according to her. She then said, "The pediatric ophthalmologists will most likely want to see him regarding this."

dahn.dahn.daaaaaahhhhhhhnnnnnnn.

It didn't end there though. She tested his 3D vision and he got everything there correct. Next, they dilated his eyes. Honestly, he did great with the drops. She put 2 different drops in each eye. The first may have been the numbing drops my mother mentioned to me after my appointment. I'm pretty sure my appt only had one set of drops and like I said, they burned like crazy. But, he did good with the second set, too. Then, they put us in a darker waiting room and said it would take 20 minutes for the drop to work. That TV had Law & Order playing. Great. The episode had FBI agents getting shot and even had the murderer cut his arm and suck the blood out to make it run down his face. Lovely. Really, I don't think the old ladies in the room wanted to see it any more than I wanted my 5 year old to. But, he found basket of toys and cars, so he didn't glance up at it once. Well, he did once... only to determine it was a Zenith.

Back in the exam room, the doctor had a tool that seemed to be determining Carl's prescription. The doctor kept flipping the little wheel things, but didn't have to ask Carl, "Which is clearer, darker, sharper? Number 1? Number 2? Number 2? Number 3? Is it Number 3 or Number 4?" and so on and so on. When I was there, I saw a different doctor. I swear, he must moon light as an auctioneer. And he had me up to like "Is it 13? How 'bout 14? Here's 13 and again 14? Do I hear 14? 14? Going once. Going twice. New prescription!"

The doctor did not ask Carl one color question. He took the nurse's word over mine. Do you know how much I just love people who take that attitude with me? Meet my kid for 5 minutes and you know him better than I do? Then he gave me a prescription for Carl's new glasses. He said he is near sighted. I said, "I don't know. He can read billboards and street signs from waaayyy off." But the doctor said he must be squinting and felt glasses for school would be helpful. Once he heard my prescription (near sighted) and also that Lew was near sighted as well, he was convinced that was why my 5 year old needed glasses for far away distance. He did say "Wear them at school." He also said since his 3D vision was perfect there probably wasn't a muscle issue. He said, "He isn't doing it today". Uh, no one asked me to make his eyes cross for them. I can get it to happen every time I try. And, yes, it was doing it today. But, he said that since the 3D vision was good, the muscles were working so it was most likely nothing to worry about. Remember, I am still thinking I am going to a specialist very soon anyway.

Then I mentioned that the first nurse said the pediatric guy might want to see him and I meant no offense, but she did only show like like 5 pictures before announcing he was color blind. I wanted a second opinion. He was fine with that and said they would set up an appointment for me. The nurse even said it would be faster than if I did it. Woo Hoo!!! The doctor told me to hold on on getting the glasses until the specialist saw Carl, too. I liked that idea, too. This guy wasn't afraid to say it was OK to double check his work.

Carl wore his sunglasses outside, but once we got to the van, he didn't want them any more. He refused them for the rest of the day, too. By bedtime, his eyes still were as big as they were at the office. They told me he might even wake up tomorrow still dilated! Guess we'll have to wait and see.

The appointment at the specialist's???? Well, they called me this afternoon to tell me it was booked for JULY 26th!!!! Hello! That is 2 weeks later than my original appointment! I said, "Well, I have one booked for July 13th. I'll just keep that one." And I did say I thought they were going to be able to get us in sooner, but she said they couldn't. That is supposedly his first available. Maybe the doctor should have asked for 'emergency' or 'cancellation' or something.

Anyway, now I have to stew for months over the fact that he is not color blind. And that he may or may not need glasses before kindergarten. Is it any wonder people hate going to doctors?????

Hanging out in the exam room waiting to be seen by the doctor the first time. No drops yet.Here he is chillin' in the waiting room after getting his drops put in. Notice, he earned 3 big stickers! He has asked if he can wear that shirt to school tomorrow so the stickers are still there.You can't see it in this tiny version, but this shot shows his big dilated eyes. Having lunch at home after the appointment. Chicken nuggets and popcorn.

I cannot tell you how much I want to tell all of this to my father.

"she is 35, you know"

Today, Carl had a make-up OT session at 9:00 am at school. Usually, he only sees Andrea on Mondays, but she missed last week so scheduled this make-up. Boy, was Gretchen psyched because she & Carl both go to school on Tuesdays. She has never met Andrea and she couldn't wait! (unfortunately, the session happens outside of the classroom, so Gretchen didn't get to interact with her anyway.)

Carl is head over heels in love with Andrea, by the way. It was love at first sight last November when they first met. This is awesome because she helps him with things he doesn't generally enjoy. If he did... he wouldn't need OT for them, right? So, for her to get him writing, cutting and just doing small motor stuff is great.

Back to this morning.

Andrea was arriving just as we were. Carl said, "You haven't meet Gretchen yet." I corrected him, "She hasn't MET her yet" and he rephrased his question. Andrea said, "You're right, Carl. Hello, Gretchen, I'm Andrea." and with that... Gretchen extended her right hand to Andrea, shook hers while saying, "Hi Andrea. I'm Gretchen. It's nice to meet you."

I laughed and shook my head and turned to look at their teacher. Miss Diane was laughing, too and shrugged her shoulders at me. "She is 35, you know?" To which I replied, "Yeah, sometimes I forget she isn't." "Oh, I know. I know."

That was the one "problem" at Gretchen's parent/teacher conference. Gretchen needs to remember she is not an adult.

strawberry bread

Carrie asked for the recipe, so I thought I'd put it up here. It is really easy and sooooo good!!

I got it from an artist in Camillus, NY (outside of Syracuse). When we lived there, I attended a showing in her home and she served this bread. I took her business card because she had a watercolor I wanted for my friend Kris. So, after a while, I couldn't get the strawberry bread out of my mind - so I called her and asked her for the recipe! We talked and I learned she had a showing in town that Saturday. Since I was looking to buy a print anyway, she said she would make the bread and bring the recipe to the showing. Cool.

So, I bought the "je t'aime" flowers for Kris and got this recipe for free! I don't know if she has it hanging, or even if she ever hung it... but I have gotten my money's worth out of this recipe for sure! Oh wait, it was free. I can't tell you how many loaves of this I have made in the past 6 or 7 years.

I still have the little slip of paper with the typed recipe on it. She had them sitting by the refreshments. A little 1.5" x 8.5" strip of white paper with the recipe on it.

I have made one alteration to the original. Her recipe calls for 1 cup of strawberries, but I really like them in mine, so I use 2 cups of them in the batter.

Strawberry Bread
350*, 1 hour, greased loaf pan

• 1 c sugar


• 2 eggs


• 2/3 c vegetable oil


• 1.5 c flour


• 1 tsp salt


• 1/2 tsp baking soda


• 2 c sliced strawberries


• 1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional if your husband is a fool like mine who doesn't like nuts in breads)

Mix oil, sugar and eggs. Add baking soda, salt, flour. Add berries and nuts. Bake one hour in greased loaf pan. (another change... I prefer making 3 small loves - seems to cook better. Try maybe 45-50 minutes for that. Or muffins - maybe 40 minutes for those. Real strict cooking times, eh?)

Now, someone once told me a blog post without a photo is a crime. So, look at his. It is only 2 years old, but look how little she looks. Age 3. Velcro Yo Gabba Gabba sneakers. A sippy cup! her curls were a little tighter back then. Even her Little White Woof still has his tag on him. Boy, there is a life changing story behind that stuffed doggy!! You've heard why I hate show and tell, right? Well, thankfully, that is the little dog we found in the craft store and were able to substitute for her lost love. She still believes that we found him playing hide and seek with her... in Michael's craft store!

Anyway... here is the photo from May 2009, right after strawberry picking...

Oh man -this was in the same folder... from when she was age 3. I added letters in case you couldn't see it was her name going down then up... she was writing at age 3! No wonder people now comment on how nice her letters are.

S is for S'mores

Oh! She had been waiting all month for this! At the end of the previous month, the children's museum has calendars available for the upcoming month and all the fun things they schedule daily. So, even more than a month! Gretchen knew that on March 30th, the book-cook class was going to make s'mores. I answered this question no less than 7 million times: Why are they called s'mores again?

I brought the camera just because she has been waiting so long for her very first s'more. And, she now knew, she was going to want... s'more!!!

Apparently, a lot of other kids were also waiting for this particular class, too. I have never seen it so full. I counted 19 at the table "cooking". Don't worry, Gretchen planted herself up front for the story. She didn't shout out too much this week, though. The book was pretty involved. It was a camping alphabet book called S is for S'mores. Mary Ellen started out reading it, but each page was a little wordy for the audience, so by about L, she started just saying what the item was and moving on. She does lots of things like that that impress me. She must have a good background in early childhood. Gretchen washed her hands before the story, so she avoided the crowd after. Good move on our part. She got to sit next to the same little curly haired girl we sit with each week. She's a tiny little girl, but she talks so well. It's cute to hear full, clear sentences come out of her. She comes with her grandmother. I've never asked how old she is. Maybe she's even more petite than I thought and the language isn't as impressive as I am thinking. She's above in the pink sweater and below in the chocolate scooping picture.

Rather than give them each chocolate that wouldn't melt, the cooking project part was that everyone was going to mix up their own chocolate frosting to spread on their graham cracker. Turns out, there was no school that day and that is why there were more kids there than usual. So, with so many kids, Mary Ellen didn't let them all dish out everything by themselves. They got powdered sugar in a cup with a tongue depressor to stir it with. Give a 2 (or 3 or 4 or 5) year old a tongue depressor and a cup of confectioner's sugar... and you will end up with a messy table. Instinct tells them to dig in and use that flat wooden stick as a spoon... and there is little chance of it making it to their mouth. It will fall on the table for sure.

Then Mary Ellen came around and let them scoop out some chocolate powder to stir in with the remaining sugar. Stir. Taste. Spill. Repeat.She then added butter, milk and vanilla... in three separate trips. By now, the kids were stirring and tasting very well. If you have any frosting left, spread it on your graham cracker. During this time, Mary Ellen was warming marshmallows in the microwave and gave each child a warm marshmallow and a top for their sandwich.Smoosh! Enjoy!!!

Wash it down with some milk!! This was the first cooking class recipe that she has eaten the entire thing! We usually bring it home (and I throw it out later).

The spell check doesn't like the word "s'more". It wants to change it to smote, snore, more or sore.

Next week.... Chick Chick Boom Boom coconut tree snacks!!

photo Friday... floral style!

Shots from this week!

We'll start with this... pollen covered pansy! I think the worst of it has passed. It has been brutal! This is actually not too bad looking. It's crazy how fast it covers things. For example.. on the farm field trip - by the time we left, after only a couple hours, my sunglass lenses were coated! And my camera!!

Here's the pollen collecting on our sidewalk. It.is.everywhere! I am blaming my 2 week long sore throat (that lingers but hasn't made me sick) on it. By now, if it were a real sore throat, I'd be sick or over it by now.

The first azalea pictures of the season! Taken at the kids' pre-school.

Anticipation!

These little bushes are our azaleas!

E-I-E-I-O

The 3 year old class field trip to the farm last year was postponed twice and finally cancelled. We were all disappointed - and therefore, very excited to get a second chance to go this year! Luckily, the weather was perfect! Sunny and 80*!!

Lew & I had a tour of a kindergarten program at 9:00 am, so I dropped the kids off right before that and they were going to ride to the farm with their classmates in the church van! And boy - was Carl psyched to get to do that!!! They were leaving around 9:30 so I knew I'd get to the farm a little after them, but not much. Our tour lasted until about 9:50, so I was only 20 minutes behind them. Diane told me that when I pulled up into the parking field, Carl looked at her and asked, "What is my mom doing here?" Gee Buddy, sorry to intrude on your parent-free fun!

I got there just in time to see the first classmate riding the small horse. Gretchen got her turn about 3/4 of the way through and Carl was the second to the last to go. As the lady brought Carl back around to the starting point, I heard him ask her, "Can I ride this again?" And she said, "Sorry, Hon, only one lap per child." The last little girl to ride was a bit nervous, but she did fine, too!

After the horse ride, they quickly helped plant some seedlings. Then headed into the barn area to meet Flo, the 25 year old horse who had retired to the farm. Carl tried to strike up a conversation with her, but apparently... she wasn't interested in hearing any of it!

In that barn, Farmer Faye gave them buckets of feed and they all headed out to the hayride wagon. Only one mother got in with them - and they all took off for a hayride and then to feed some roosters, I think. The others mothers - and Chris, our one dad who is there for all the events got to visit by the peacock, turkeys and rabbits.

I couldn't get a full peacock shot because he chose to jump down into one of the pens with the chickens before fluffing up. I couldn't get back far enough to get all the feathers in my shot. I really want a wider lens. The funniest part was how he showed off for us, then slowly turned around and stayed facing away from us for the rest of the morning. He was shaking his butt like crazy - Miss Diane and some of the moms go to Zumba together, so they thought he would definitely fit in there!

When the wagon full of kids returned, they got to bring their buckets of feed into the pen with the mother sheep and her one week old lamb twins! You can see Carl reaching out to pet one while Gretchen is watching the mother eat some food.

Gretchen and her friends trying to feed one of the sweet little lambs.

They also got to feed the chickens. Most of them were in pens, a few were running around the grounds, though.

Then, they did a short craft project before having their picnic lunches. I am always amazed at the amount of food I see thrown away when I am on a field trip or at school for a party lunch with the kids. We, as parents, are given very strict guidelines as to what to send and what food groups and portions must be sent it. I asked the teacher if she throws out this much food daily and she said, "Yes". At least today it didn't go to waste. All the food scraps - except bananas - were put going to be fed to the big ol' pig! Except bananas? Yeah, apparently, this big pig is a picky eater and doesn't like bananas. Boy, he did enjoy the other stuff. Especially that whole apple some kid didn't even touch.

Look at this boy sitting in a nice comfy lawn chair. Now, he looks like a city slicker, but he is so particular about his clothes. See, Lew was wearing his red button down oxford to work, so Carl had to wear his. And, the shoes - well, yeah, they are his favorites, but honestly, I made him wear those. he didn't oppose, of course. But, see, one of the other mothers said when her older son went, their shoes got so muddy and gross, they had to throw them out! Well, these dress shoes are almost too small and his sneakers are not. And I have a replacement pair of these exact shoes in a bigger size just waiting for him. And I don't have spare sneakers. So, I sent him in his dress shoes. City slicker or geek... you make the call.

Then, they got to wander around some more and got a chance to go into one of the bunny's pens to pet her. We even posed the whole class for a group photo by the barn fence!

Finally, Farmer Faye loaded all the kids - and me - up in the hay wagon for another ride. She stopped in some shade and read us a story before driving us around some more and dropping us back off at the church van.

The twins both wanted to ride back to school with their friends although Carl was somewhat disappointed it was "the Ford Van." See, the church also has another van... a GMC... and he wanted to ride in that one. He is pretty flexible, though, so the Ford van was certainly better than having to ride in Mommy's Honda van! And I got to ride back to school in peace!

flashback to 3.21.06

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

my favorite picture from Grampie's birthday

We came home without telling anyone - and luckily, Annie & Kenny had enough dinner for us, too. You saw it last year, with a longer story even. It is just a great photo - so deserves another showing!

Today when I told Gretchen & Carl that it was Grampie's birthday, Gretchen asked, "But it isn't his birthday anymore because he is in heaven?" We said he would probably have a party in Heaven and I expected a lot more questions, but that was all she asked.

Here's the picture with the grandkids piled on Big Ken. March 20, 2007.

Daddy, we miss you so much. I love you! Happy Birthday in Heaven!

wish you were here

11 loaves. 3 Strawberry (2 with walnuts). 4 Banana Walnut with chocolate chips. 4 Banana Chocolate chips w/o nuts.

All simply because we had fresh fruit that was ready for bread.

Super Full Moon

OK, so unless you live under a rock, you know tonight was the Super Full Moon aka Perigee Full Moon. Read about it here.

I wasn't going to photograph it. On Thursday I attended a seminar on Digital After Dark and even learned that Friday evening would actually be a better photograph since it would rise closer to twilight. And we learned that the moon by itself is not a very interesting subject. You want something silhouetted in the foreground to be the subject with the moon as a compliment.

Well, then my online photography friends started posting their moon shots from when it first started rising. One was a gorgeous red tone. One had trees in the bottom half of the shot and you could see the reflection of the bright moon in the leaves. Then I started feeling guilty. I could have gone to the beach and shot the moon. We were even driving home from dinner close to that time. I should have brought my gear. (although, my tripod is broken and I really need to replace it before something tragic happens) Actually, you could hand hold moon shots. I used a shutter speed of 1/250 of a second for mine.

So, here is my one Super Full Moon shot for the night. Nothing for reference. No glorious color. No breaking waves and reflection. Just the biggest full moon we will see for 18 years shot from my deck...

Then Lew came outside with a big ol flashlight and we tried a technique I learned Thursday called Light Painting. This shot had the shutter open for 6 seconds and Lew shined the flashlight up and down the tree to highlight it. I couldn't let the whole moon be in the shot because with the shutter open for so long, it would blow it out to a crazy hot white patch. But, I did catch some rays!

my competition

See this kid? He can work the mouse. And turn on the computer. And sign in using our password. And pull up the internet. And go into the Favorites folder. And then go into the sub folder for Educational. And pull up PBSkids.org. All by himself.

So, when I ask if I can have some time on the computer - I get this:

Then he asks, "Are you going to check your Facebook? It has your picture on it."

So, the fight to get computer time is one reason I have not blogged photos and stories in about 2 weeks. The other one is this child:

And the 70+* weather we've been having. (Today 80*). And birthday parties. And photos to edit from said parties. And sewing projects. And haircut appointments. And my own eye doctor appt (they said those drops would "un-do" in 4 hours. Pfft... it was a lot longer. A whole day of not being able to see the computer screen.) And play dates at the park. And lots of trips to the Children's Museum (I am there at least 2x per week). And a baby shower for Carl's therapist on her last day working with him after 3 years. And just regular pre-school running around. And a sore throat I haven't been able to shake for a week now.

New haircuts:

Goofball aka Mini Big Ken:

Picnic lunch. They ate half a watermelon! OK, it was just a basketball sized one, but still...

Now, I will be putting up some pictures from the past 2 weeks. I will be backing up and putting them on the correct date so you are going to have to scroll backwards to find and read them. You can handle this.

March 16th & 17th

The kiss picture was actually from the day before St Patrick's Day. So are these family photos. We did take our March Family Challenge Photo on the cats' birthday, but if you saw the real picture - not one made small enough to post here on the blog - you'd see that it is actually a bit soft. The focus fell on the huggy cats in the foreground, leaving the people a bit out of focus. So, we did a retake quickly on 3.16.

These next 2 shots are actually from Thursday, March 17th. It was Carl's day at school and Gretchen and I went to the Children's Museum for the Pre-school Cooking class. We try to go every week. The museum girl reads the kids a story and then they do a fun cooking snack project. It is usually about 10 little girls there. Gretchen tries to answer every question Mary Ellen asks and then add more commentary. Like today, when they were asked "What day is today?" everyone yelled "St Patrick's Day!" and then Gretchen added, "And it's garbage day, too!" The other mothers laugh, but I hope they don't think she is pushy. Good thing she is so flippin' cute.

So, today, she read a St Pat's story and then the kids made Parfaits. They get to do all the measuring and pouring themselves. The table suffers it's share of messes, but Mary Ellen and her other staff members are so sweet and patient. Most of the kids are younger than Gretchen. They all love the whole process. So, the kids got to scoop out pudding mix, pour that is, pour in milk, stir it... they made vanilla (which they colored green) and chocolate in small individual cups. Then, she gave them all a third cup and the kids layered the puddings along with granola, marshmallows and chocolate cookie crumbs... and topped it with Cool Whip. It was delicious.

On other weeks, we have made a trail type mix, Bone Soup (Halloween version of Stone Soup) and smoothies. We skipped Green Eggs and Ham story week because it was going to be egg salad and she wasn't into that. No problem. Me neither!

Carl hasn't gotten to do any cooking classes because he's always in school on Thursdays - besides - he won't eat sweet things and most of the little snacks involve sweet stuff. On Wednesdays I could bring him up for Science time, but he isn't always interested in the organized things there. I am going to try and get him up there for the next couple because they are musical instrument type things. Gretchen can't wait for the S'mores cooking, too!

So, here are the wee ones on St Patty's Day...