Humuhumu Gets Glasses (with bonus cat)

[nanila]

Telstar, stretched out on the spare room bed. Someone please explain to me how I'm supposed to get any work done with this going on in the room? I mean, could he possibly luxuriate any harder? I THINK NOT.


Humuhumu was really tired when she got home from nursery yesterday. It was her first day wearing her glasses, so we let her lie down on the sofa and watch CBeebies for a while until she felt better.

Once she felt better, she got down on the floor in the front room and started playing with her toys. It was then that we started to see the true extent of the difference the glasses were making to her perception and her physical confidence.


Here she is with a Lego Duplo car she built. She loves using the square Duplo to build tall towers, but it always took her ages to fit the pieces together. She put this together (using every one of the available square pieces) in about five minutes. It was amazing - and a little bit emotional - watching her speed up as she realised she could snap them together with precision.


Bonus square tower photo.


After dinner, she went to the conservatory to get her scooter. The handlebars were a bit wobbly, so the bloke got out the socket set to tighten them up. After being told, "No, I do it", in very firm tones, he relegated himself to the role of helper. She assembled and disassembled the wrench until she could (almost) do it on her own. Again, this is a thing she would have given up on before the glasses, probably because she couldn't see the pieces properly.

She wanted to put her glasses back on as soon as she got out of the bath in the evening, and again when she got up this morning. I don't think we're going to have any trouble getting her to keep them on. She clearly comprehends the improvement they're making, although it may be a few days before she becomes fully accustomed to the enhanced visual input!

Comments

[quoththeravyn]

Wow... being able to see clearly is really a great thing.

[nanila]

It is. I wonder if this helps explain why she got so many bumps and bruises when she was learning to walk - we were signing a bump form every other day at her old nursery.

[rmc28]

Wow, that's amazing. I'm so glad.

[nanila]

It is! It's wonderful to watch. She seems even happier now, and she's always been a pretty happy child.

[cmcmck]

Such a great outcome! :o)

[nanila]

\o/ I'm so pleased. They've had more of an impact than I imagined possible.

[angrboda]

That's neat!

I was about 15 or so when I got mine. Thing I remember the most was the trees suddenly had leaves, they're weren't just this generic green blob. And for dinner we had what looked like the smallest pizza I'd ever seen. :)

Holy moses!

[ed_rex]

I just replied to our hostess' next entry, with a family anecdote about my own identical discovery about trees vs leaves. Although in my case, I was 5ish and so have to trust to family stories about my shock. Learning of yours is a nice bit of confirmation.

Re: Holy moses!

[angrboda]

Can't say I was entirely pleased to get them. Took me a long time to come to terms with it, really, but then that's hardly surprising at 15, possibly 16, I'm uncertain. Actually I should have had them several years earlier. In this country school children all have yearly check-ups with a nurse to keep an eye on growth curves and stuff like whether or not they can actually see. After a couple of years, she didn't understand why nothing had happened, so she rang my dad. Let's just say that he in turn was less than pleased with me not having given them the papers from the nurse saying I needed glasses... Ahem.

Re: Holy moses!

[ed_rex]

... Took me a long time to come to terms with it, really, but then that's hardly surprising at 15 ...

No, not surprising at all. Though I am (conflictedly) impressed by your rather heroic efforts to avoid the transition from two-eyes to four!

[nanila]

That's a difficult age to have gotten glasses. I can understand why you were reluctant. But glad that when you did you saw the benefits!

[ironed_orchid]

This is great news.

Being short sighted, I never thought about how being long sighted could interfere with doings things that require precision, only how it meant people needed glasses for reading.

[nanila]

Yes. I'm wondering also if it helps explain why she got so many bumps and bruises when she was learning to walk. It must have taken her ages to figure out how to compensate for hazards she was unable to distinguish visually.

[doccy]

*runs around excitedly* WOOO! GO HUMUHUMU! :D

[nanila]

HEE. She's been doing quite a lot of running around excitedly lately too! :D

[doccy]

Well, running around excitedly is the best. She has excellent taste. Well done.

:D

[lark_ascends]

*massive wobbly grin*

Go Humuhumu!!

And, no, I don't think Telstar could be luxuriating any harder.

[nanila]

:D

He's doing it again today. It's infuriating. :P

[cosmolinguist]

So pleased for Humuhumu. It's crazy how much of our lives our eyesight pervades. I'm glad she recognizes the glasses as making these differences and is keen to wear them.

[nanila]

Yes, it's been world-changing for her, I think. It must have been exhausting for her, trying to negotiate all kinds of things she couldn't see. I have an increased understanding of and sympathy for those with impaired eyesight.

[weaverbird]

Pure wonderfulness. Now I'm all sniffly with happiness for her and you.

(Heee! Telstar takes the prize.)

[nanila]

*wibbles* Thank you. *sniff*

Tea? :)

(He's doing it again, arrrgh!)

[sfred]

That's great news. I'm so glad it's making such a positive difference.

[nanila]

Thank you. It's fantastic.

[hilarita]

I think that's a definite 100% on the luxuriating! No extra luxuriating possible! (Also, I respect the way Telstar has made it impossible for anyone *else* to luxuriate on the bed at the same time. Also excellent marks for territory-claiming.)

[nanila]

He's doing it again. I was going to change the sheets on the spare room bed today, but of course now I can't because I might disturb Sir.

[highlyeccentric]

Whoo for happy child with working glasses!

[nanila]

It's brilliant! I do think it's also helping her not to squint, so have hope that at her three month check-up she'll be cleared of the threat of patches and/or surgery. Well, patches wouldn't be so bad, but I'd prefer the surgery option to be ruled out...

[ankaret]

Aww, tiny bespectacled person!

I couldn't catch a ball or see anything out of car windows until I got glasses when I was seven, but long sightedness must be much more infuriating. Hooray for being able to fit the Duplo together.

Also, you would make a fortune if you could only bottle Telstar's level of relaxation and sell it.

[nanila]

\o/

I'm wondering now if this helps explain why she was always banging into stuff when she was learning to walk. It must have been so difficult to develop hazard perception when she couldn't properly see obstacles close to her.

[forthwritten]

This is absolutely delightful - I have a big daft grin on my face.

[nanila]

Hee. Hurrah! :D

Must get photos together of her with some of the owl statues in Birmingham.

[lurkingcat]

Hurrah for seeing clearly! (I'm not at all snuffling over here. Much.)

[nanila]

It has been world-changing, for her and also for us, watching her.

[silveradept]

Hooray for Humuhumu. Very glad to see that the effects are immediate and clearly beneficial to her.

[nanila]

It's been a revelation for her, I think. She knows how much they're helping.

[nickbarlow]

Great to see her adapting so quickly to them. Think she's about the same age I was when I first got glasses (I can't remember a time without them) so she'll probably get used to putting them on routinely before long.

[nanila]

She looks for them every morning, so I'm pretty sure she's grasped how important they are!

[omnipotent]

Telstar looks comfy. I love his sort of pleased expression while luxiriating, as if to REALLY rub it in. LOL.

Being able to see clearly makes a world of difference! It's really impressive to read about how much more precisely she is able to complete tasks. Her interest in doing things herself is really great; is that something you encouraged or does she have that curiosity naturally?

I had to get glasses for nearsightedness when I was eight and have used various methods of vision correction ever since; now I am contemplating having a LASIK procedure done.

[nanila]

Telstar's lounging is very annoying. He's doing it right now.

She wants to do everything herself. We do encourage her to do things herself (like getting dressed in the morning, brushing her teeth, putting on her shoes, etc) but we don't make a big deal out of it if she doesn't want to. So I think a lot of her motivation is internally generated.

I would be interested to hear about your LASIK decision-making process!

[sunflowerinrain]

Wonderful. Now she'll be able to keep up with her mind! Of course, you and bloke may have more trouble keeping up with her... ;)

[nanila]

We always have trouble keeping up with her. :)

[telegramsam]

Aw, what a cutie!

I didn't get glasses until I was 11 or 12, but probably should have been in them a lot sooner. She should not end up with the problems I have, hopefully.

[nanila]

She loves her glasses. It's such a relief.

Her squint seems to be improving when she takes them off. It's less pronounced, and when she's not tired it's hardly there at all. Fingers crossed.