The Good and The Better

The good from today:

Kayla had an appointment with the ophthalmologist this morning. It has been a couple years since she's had her eyes checked (shame on me!). I was dreading the appointment actually; even though that is no excuse for putting it off. She has this habit of squinting her right eye frequently. It started out when she learned to wink both eyes so at first we thought it was a novelty. Eventually she stopped doing it with both eyes and now does it consistently with her right eye numerous times throughout the day. I was afraid she must not be seeing well and we were headed for glasses.

She has come such a long way with medical establishments; it's wonderful not to fight her anymore on issues and to have her crying and resisting. Although she was initially nervous and said she was scared to be in the room, she quickly calmed down when she realized not much was happening.

The tech played a few 'games' with her to test her eyesight and she did great. She held a card in her lap with 4 letters then had to look at the screen to see what letter was being shown. Then she had to point to that letter on the card in her lap. She did this with each eye patched and the letters became smaller and smaller. She passed with flying colors.

She had her eyes dilated as well. The results are that she has near perfect vision. No problems with her eyesight or eyes at all. She does have a slight bit of farsightedness, but he said that was completely typical of kids her age and should outgrow it. Her right eye squinting thing is probably just a tic or habit she's developed, as do a lot of kids, and should outgrow that as well.

The better from today:
Brought Kayla to school after the appointment. Her class was at recess but unfortunately as soon as we made it out there they were just lining up to head inside. A couple kids saw us coming across the playground and started calling out, "Kayla! Look, Kayla's here! Hi Kayla! It's Kayla! Kayla I'm so glad you're here!" and a group of them crowded around to give Kayla a hug. Her teacher even laughingly told them to back up a little bit and give her some room to breathe!

It was wonderful to see them greeting Kayla like that, and their genuine happiness and enthusiasm that Kayla was joining the class.

One of her friends took Kayla's hand and off they went to get in line ... and Kayla didn't even look back at us. Off she went to continue on her day. She was in her element. She was with her classmates and friends. She was loved. She was wanted. She was a part of their class. She was where she belonged.