little four eyes

Jennifer had a question in the comments that’s something I’ve been thinking about recently, too.  She wondered whether it was better, if your child already has 2 pair of glasses, to have one pair as the primary pair, and one set aside as a backup.  Or does it make more sense to have both pairs as primary pairs, and let your child choose each morning which pair to wear?

For the past 18 months, Zoe has had two pair of glasses, and we’ve let her choose which pair to wear.  It’s worked quite well, largely because she seems to like both pair equally, so they get pretty equal wear and tear.  The lenses are less scratched, and the frames less beat up, because they’re both essentially getting  worn half the time.

That all changed last week when we found out Zoe’s prescription had changed.  I had planned to get the lenses replaced in one pair, and then when that pair was back, get new lenses for the second pair.  The guy at the optical shop, though, told me that she was likely to outgrow her red glasses in around 6 months, and he didn’t think it would make sense to replace her lenses now, only to need to replace the frames and lenses again in a few months.  So once her blue glasses come back with the updated prescription, we’ll have those as her primary glasses, with the red ones as back-up — the prescription change is small enough that the old prescription could be worn as a back up if need be.

I’d love to pick out a second pair of glasses for Zoe so that we can stay with the two pairs for her to choose from, since it’s worked so well.  But ordering new lenses for one pair, and then a second whole new pair of glasses just isn’t in the cards for us right now.  I guess I hadn’t really thought through the logistics of what happens with two pair when the prescription changes, but the frames don’t need to.

I’d love to hear thoughts on what you all are doing.  Do you have a back up pair, or two pair that your child chooses from?  Is it working well?  What would you do if the money for additional pairs were not an issue (hey, I can dream, right?)

How to tell Zoe just got out of an eye appointment?  Sunglasses and lots and lots of stickers.  The eye doctor’s office has a ready supply of both.

You would think that after doing this, oh I don’t even know how many times, I would remember that Zoe will have her eyes dilated and that means I should bring her sunglasses, especially in the summer, but I forgot, and so Zoe got herself a new pair of tiger striped shades (they’re not prescription, obviously, so she probably won’t wear them much).

Speaking of sunglasses, now that it’s midsummer in the northern hemisphere, I wanted to remind everyone of the importance of wearing sunglasses.  If you’re not sure what to do for sunglasses for your child, you might want to check out our post from last year where we pulled together a number of different sunglasses options.

Sukanya posted on the facebook group about the difficulties in keeping her son’s glasses clean.  It made me laugh, only because we’ve had the exact same frustrations throughout the 2 1/2 years that Zoe’s worn her glasses.  I feel like every time I’ve looked at her glasses, they’ve been cloudy or dirty or covered in yogurt.

shortly after this picture was taken, the glasses were completely covered in yogurt. I was laughing too hard to get the picture

Sometimes I feel like they get dirty sitting on her bedside table at night.

Zoe definitely likes “cleaning” her glasses, and is almost getting good at it, though they still aren’t clean after she goes after them with her cleaning cloth.  She’s good at handing them to us and asking us to clean them, and we send a cleaning cloth to daycare, too.  Any other ideas of ways to keep the glasses clean?  Do you find yourself cleaning your child’s glasses all the time?  Have you taught them to clean their own glasses?

Thank you again to Amomofelly for running the Princess Peepers contest, to author Pam Culvert, for so generously offering two signed copies, and especially to everyone for submitting pictures, they’re great!

Speaking of photo contests, the Children’s Eye Foundation photo contest is still running.  I have 8 gorgeous photos on our page of entries, if you have a moment, please vote for one of our entries.  If I’ve missed your photo, let me know and I’ll add it to our page.  They are still accepting entries, and voting continues until October 1, 2010.

Prince Peerless the brave, nobel, and chunky would like to announce the 3 prize winners were a tie and names needed to be drawn.  Your children are ADORABLE!!!!  2 families will each receive a signed hardcover copy of “Princess Peepers,” courtesy of Pam Calvert!!!  And one winner will receive a paperback copy of the book – sure wish I had more to send to everyone!  Please watch your mailboxes for an e-mail from me with all the details. Thank you to all who participated!!!!

If you have not yet read this adorable book, I strongly encourage you to do so!  It would make an awesome gift for a friend when they join “The Glasses Club,”  as a thank you to your ophthamologist and as an addition to your home library.

Grand Prize Winners of autographed, hardcover copy of “Princess Peepers”:

Ingrid, Chloe, and Paris

Natalie

Winner of paper back copy of “Princess Peepers”:

Gracy and Sarah

Other royalty!!!  You all make the most spectacular prince and princesses!!!!!

Zoe

Knight Liam

This question came in from Jacqui, who is hoping someone else may have experience with this.  -Ann Z

Our daughter Coco is longsighted with  both eyes +4.  Six months ago our specialist advised us that she did not require glasses because she was coping well and would probably require them later in life for reading and studying. We returned to him after a few months however as we noticed that one eye occasionaly turns out slightly when she is tired or focusing on us when we are close to her.

Anyway the woman who did some testing before we saw the specialist himself implied to us that putting her in glasses may cause the eye to turn in and she was concerned about this.

We went to see the specialist straight after and he made the recommendation that she does wear glasses in an attempt to straighten the eyes. He did say it was unsual that her eye turns out given that she is long sighted.

But now we wonder if the occasional eye turning out is even related to the long sightedness as our older daughter with normal vision had a similar eye that has strengthened as she has got older. I guess we are worried that we have put her into glasses unnecessarily and will that be causing worse problems for her now. i.e an eye turning inwards that can’t be straightened. She copes so well without glasses, staff at her preschool are not at all concerned and we see no evidence of difficulty.   She finds Wally quickly!

Princess Peepers Book Contest!

Very exciting update! Pam Calvert, the author of “Princess Peepers has just said she’ll kick in 2 additional signed, hardcover copies of the book!  Send in your pictures!

If you don’t have this book for your little prince or princess, then we’d love to have you enter for the chance to win a paperback copy of “Princess Peepers,” by Pam Calvert.

Contest Rules:

This contest is open to all… if you don’t live in the USA and are the chosen winner, we may be able to work something out =)  In order to enter, you must send me a picture of your “prince” or “princess.”  Each picture will receive one point each for the following

1. Wearing glasses (three points)
2. Wearing a crown or tiara (one point)
3. Dressing up like a price or princess (one point)
4. Carrying a wand or magic Stick (one point)
5. Having something sparkly in the picture (one point)
6. An extra accessory such as: a cape, necklace, wings…  (one point)
7. Parent in the picture with at least 3 of the above items on (one point)

All the entries received by June 19^th will be considered.  If there is more than one picture with all 9 points, the names will be entered into a hat and drawn randomly for a winner.  Of course, by sending me these pictures, you are agreeing to let me post them on our Little Four Eye Website  My e-mail is ajrenchin @ yahoo. com (you must remove the spaces)

Disclaimer: I, amomofelly, purchased this book and will be judging the entries.  By picking a winner in no way shape or form do I believe that your little one is not “top royalty,” however, I only have one book to give away and therefore must choose based on my own made up rules =)

“Remember, Princess Peepers wants to let you know that you’ll always be a royal princess inside and out, no matter what! Just be true to yourself! “

It is this kind of message that Pam Calvert, author of Princess Peepers write on her website that makes my heart all warm and tingly.

The book Princess Peepers is a great addition to your home library if your pre-schooler or kindergarten girl is feeling a little bummed about wearing glasses, or needing a pick me up on the importance of wearing glasses.  In this whimsical little modern fairy tale, the princess has chosen to remove her glasses which leads to a few vision blunders.  She finds herself in all the wrong places, but doesn’t realize it because her glasses are not on.  Instead of headed towards the ball, she finds herself headed for the tower.  In the end, she ends up falling onto a horse, I mean prince.  They both put their glasses on and in fairytale fashion, live happily ever after.

Elliana really gets a kick out of this book and has made me read it every day for the last 5 days. I had to explain some of the vocabulary and we talked about the book as we read it.  She LOVES princesses and really got the humor in the book.  It is a lot of fun to hear her laugh when I read the funny parts!

After reading the book, Pam Calvert’s website http://www.pamcalvert.com encourages princesses (and princes) to send in their pictures for her to post.  She also has different activities to make and do; glasses cupcakes and decorate cardstock eyewear.  She does visit schools for author talks and lessons – which has me super inspired.  I would love to have her present in our city and am going to contact our public library to see if and how I can make it happen.