A three year old can be a really bossy, opinionated little dictator. When Brinn got her eye/vision diagnosis, the doctor sent us home with a few cute floral eye patches that she wore with no problem. At first.
But the “cute” Ortopad eye patches have to be ordered and shipped. I went to CVS and picked up a box of CVS brand patches, but they were c.r.a.p. They stick for about 5 minutes before falling off her face. We spent almost a week fighting her to wear those crummy CVS eye patches, bribing her with candy to keep them on even though we would end up having to attach them to her eyebrow with clear tape. Seriously, TAPE.
Then the packages of Ortopad eye patches came; they’re flowers, hearts, music notes, even cow print. She was so excited. I told her to pick one out and she squealed, “which one has giraffes, mommy???”
WHAT?
A few weeks ago she developed this weird obsession with giraffes. She’s able to fit the word “giraffe” into any conversation. “Do you want dinner, Brinn?” “Mommy, giraffes eat leaves!”
So of course she told me she’d ONLY wear her eye patches if they had giraffes on them, so we had to figure something out.
Stickers. Now I have to buy stickers to stick on the eye patche$.
She’s STILL making me reward her for wearing them with tiny Hershey bars.
Every 5 freaking minutes, “can I take it off? Is it time? Can it come off now!?” I have to turn the kitchen timer on for 2 hrs so she’ll quit asking me so much. AND I have to dangle that Hershey bar over her when she starts begging to take it off or she sneaks away and sticks the patches to everything and anything but her eye.

She just leaned over the laptop and yelled, “giraffes is my favorite animal ya know!”

Glasses Update: The glasses I posted about last week were not the right size. She didn’t want to wear them, and if she did have them on they would fly clear off her face if she turned. So of course we have yet another hassle to deal with. We returned the glasses and have to wait another week for the new ones. This whole eye patch/glasses thing is not going so smoothly.

We’re not sure if they fit well but they’re sturdy, flexible and she likes them! Our insurance paid for this pair, but the next ones will be a splurge :).
Isn’t she cute?

Luckily they’re not anything as scary as they sound. Brinn’s left eye started to shift in towards her nose around her third birthday in June. I only noticed it when she was watching television, and it didn’t happen all of the time. As the summer went on, I noticed it happening more frequently, especially if she was tired. After 2 months, we noticed it anytime she focused on something in the distance, and the eye was starting to stick. It takes about 2 months to get an appointment CEENTA, but let me tell you, it was well worth the wait.

After 3 1/2 hrs and a bunch of tests, they diagnosed her with esotropia strabismus and amblyopia. Basically she’s cross-eyed with a lazy eye. Lazy like, she sees double so the eye doesn’t want to focus. The left eye shuts off and the right eye does all of the work, and it’s crossing because it’s not being used. The lazy eye has little to no depth perception, and she’s far sighted. They told us many children outgrow the laziness by the time they’re teens, and the eye will correct itself “crooked” wise (hopefully without any surgery). She’ll be wearing a patch for 2 hours a day, and must wear glasses all of the time.

This picture was from July, right after we got a referral from the ped.

This was Mid-August when it started to really “stick” and would turn in just because.

She was super pumped to pick out her glasses. She liked the flexible, pink, metal rimmed glasses best. I tried to talk her into something cute and funky but she wasn’t having it. She loved these tortoise shell ones in the store, but obviously they aren’t her size. Goober.

And she’s doing AWESOME with her patch! She doesn’t complain about it at all, it’s amazing how straight her eye is when she’s forced into using it.

I’ll post an updated picture when her glasses come in sometime this week! :)