Getting glasses

Peter got glasses last week.  I took him to an optometrist at the end of July after noticing that he seemed to be reading with his face very close to his books, something that he didn't used to do.  I printed out a Snellen chart, set it up according to the instructions, and gave him a vision test at home.  He failed all four times I gave it to him over a two week period.  He could read the second line with good, but not perfect, accuracy, and had less than 50% accuracy with the third line.  He could not even attempt any of the lower lines.  He had passed the Snellen vision test at the peditrician's office back in November, so I thought it was time to go straight to an eye doctor who could really examine beyond just reading an eye chart. 

The optometrist felt that Peter has lazy eyes and needs to wear glasses to correct the vision and strengthen the eyes.  He also has an astigmatism (as do I), so he will likely need to stay in glasses for that correction, once the lazy eyes are corrected. 

I was surprised to hear that he has lazy eyes, as vision has never seemed a concern.  Peter has been looking at books since he was old enough to hold them, and I've never been concerned that he could not see them well.  As I said, he passed the vision exam at the peditrician's office, which always felt like a fail-safe in case I was missing something.  The optometrist told me that Peter likely hasn't ever seen well, and that it was good that he is getting glasses now, so that correction is still possible.   The news hit me a little hard, as I was feeling like a bad mom for not noticing that he wasn't seeing well.  Furthermore, the optometrist said he should have been having this corrected quite some time ago.  Sucker punch!  Peter will see the opthalmologist at the practice when we go back in another six months.  I am curious to know more about the lazy eyes and how I missed the issue earlier.  Were there clues I should have been more aware of?

Anyway, now the trick is to get Peter to wear the glasses... properly.  He keeps peering over the tops of the lenses, instead of through the lenses, about half the time.  He also has been reluctant to wear the glasses in a social situation.  When we got to Mass last weekend, he was insistant that he had to take the glasses off, lest someone he knew could not recognize him or would think it strange that he had them on.  He also refuses to wear them when he is eating.  The rest of the time he is pretty good about wearing them, but we have to get him to stop looking above the lenses. 

 
I think he looks good with them on.  The whole family does.


He prefers this look instead: