Seeing clearly.
Over the summer, we noticed that Jonah was squinting while watching his Pokemon show on Saturday mornings. When school started, he had to have his seat moved to the front of the room, because he couldn't see the board. Even with his seat moved, he was still having trouble reading the homework assignment. One day he came home and said that when his teacher wrote with the orange marker, it was like she was writing in invisible ink.
We were waiting for this. Genetics were not on his side. I got my first set of glasses in fourth grade. Steve got his in first grade. We were hoping to put off the glasses until January, when we could add Jonah to Steve's eye plan, but after the orange marker incident, we felt we couldn't put it off any longer.
So, Saturday morning we trekked over to Pearl Vision on Route 17 and got him his first pair of glasses. Blue wire rimmed glasses. In an hour, he could read the small letters on the bottom of the eye chart.
He was amazed at how different the world looked with his new glasses. He rejoiced at all he could see. "I can read that sign, mom! I can see the leaves on the trees." He kept raising and lowering the glasses to compare the before and after. He didn't realize how bad his eyes were until he got the glasses.
I envy Jonah's new focus. I've been working on two different writing projects for the past month, but they aren't coming together. I have to commit to either writing academic papers or popular articles. I have to make clearer lines between professional time and mom time. I have to purge myself of the psychic baggage of my academic career. Things are slowly coming together, but I'm impatient. I would like a one-hour trip to the eye doctor to put things in sharper focus. I need a little more time.
Apt. 11d 
My son got his first pair of glasses last spring, when he was 5 1/2. Also blue wire-rims. 🙂
Since then, his reading – indeed, his general interest in books – has really picked up. He’s far-sighted, so he probably wasn’t seeing the type well, if at all.
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I’ve had reading glasses since I was in 4th or 5th grade. I got regular, though not especially strong, normal glasses about 5 years ago or so. It was depressing, as my eye-sight had always been above average, but I noticed I could no longer read street signs I used to be able to read, that trees no longer had distinct leaves, and so on. I was foolish enough to get glasses that were fairly stylish but not too practical. (The frames are too small and so I constantly look at them.) Still, it’s a big deal to be able to see well. It’s hard to imagine what the world was like (or is like, for many) without this.
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I got my glasses before kindergarten. This was back when all they made for kids were the heavy black plastic ones.
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Don’t forget the Harry Potter factor. My kids decided on Gryffindor robes for their Halloween costume this year and were most particular about ordering Harry Potter glasses. C was delighted when the glasses arrived with authentic tape wrapped at the nose.
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The leaves on trees comment seems to be universal. I can remember the same thing, and I’ve heard several other people make that comment.
We’ve somehow dodged glasses- and the oldest is 17! It’s really surprising considering the strong genetic predisposition.
Maybe carrots do help:).
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On the off chance that he or she is reading, whoever invented the new, light, thin plastic lenses deserves some kind of prize. Not that I expect any Norwegians to notice.
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I hear you Laura. If only a trip to the optometrist would bring clarity. It reminds me of that scene in the Matrix where Trinity downloaded the ability to fly a military helicopter in 45 seconds. I thought — what a way to finish a dissertation!
Congrats to Jonah on his new specs!
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“I got my glasses before kindergarten. This was back when all they made for kids were the heavy black plastic ones.”
Might explain a lot (from the fellow heavy plastic glasses w/ glass lenses and, in my case, frequent use of tape.)
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“I have to commit to either writing academic papers or popular articles. I have to make clearer lines between professional time and mom time. I have to purge myself of the psychic baggage of my academic career.”
I’ve had this same struggle. Mostly I’ve been drawn to non-academic writing, which means getting further and further away from any idea of an academic job. I’ve mostly solved the professional vs. mom time by making all the time pre-lunch professional time. If I want or need to do more after, then fine. Otherwise, I feel free to do household chores.
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