A new set of eyes...

For the past year Benjamin's ESD teacher kept suggesting we take Benjamin to an eye doctor because she felt like something was a little off. (He had his vision checked a couple years ago at the Casey Eye Institute, but he was pretty little and it was not a fun experience) Our eye insurance only let us go to specific places though and there was no way I was going to take Benjamin to some little place in the mall where the entire building would hear him screaming and the whole experience would be completely traumatic for everybody. Recently, one of Benjamin's therapists suggested we go see Dr. Bruce at Northwest Eye Care: http://www.doctorbruce.net/ and boy are we glad we did! (They were even able to code our appointment as a medical visit... $30.00 co-pay!!)

Now a little background information... Benjamin absolutely HATES anything on his face or head and will completely tantrum (to the point of vomiting or unsafely thrusting his body until the object is removed). So you can see why I was already completely stressed out and anxious about this appointment. It was going to be hard, and loud, and just down right awful. So my mom headed on over, we stopped for Starbucks to gear up for battle, and headed to the appointment. 

The first thing they wanted us to do was put Benjamin's chin and forehead into that strap-like machine that happened to still be out in the waiting area... My mom and I just laughed nervously. After it became quite apparent that was not happening, they checked us into our room and started testing his vision using different tools and lights. Any time Benjamin started getting frustrated or uneasy; they stopped immediately and tried a different method. Benjamin was doing great!! Dr. Bruce finally felt he had a pretty good prescription picked out and wanted to put it up against Benjamin's face. 
"Just warning you... this is not going to be pretty!" I said. Well I was wrong... dead wrong. Dr. Bruce put the prescription lenses up to his face and Benjamin's whole body just relaxed. And he kept leaning forward and putting his head against the device so he could look through the prescription. Dr. Bruce took it away and Benjamin started clapping which means, "More! More!" in his sign language. I couldn't believe it!! My mom and I were definitely crying...it was like we were seeing a small miracle!

Dr. Bruce said that Benjamin is very far-sighted, has astigmatism and could possibly be seeing double... OMG... this little boy of mine! How strong and brave is he! Here he is, can't see anything close up and double and we're trying to make him walk all over the place with his walker and wondering why he won't put puzzle pieces in their place and many other things! Poor Guy! Dr. Bruce thinks Benjamin's new prescription might really change his little life! 

We had to wait several weeks for the glasses and now we're trying to integrate them into his daily life.  Benjamin is doing pretty well. We are trying to keep them on 10-20 minutes for several times a day. He still doesn't love them being on his head (there's a band on the back to keep them on) but I think over time we will be successful! (video below)

And now this cutie pie: