December 10th--New Glasses!

On our Thanksgiving trip to Lake Tahoe, Anders was playing with his glasses in the van and broke the strap. This style of glasses don't stay on at all without the strap, so when we got to the condo we fixed it with bag ties. We knew it wasn't the best solution (besides looking quite a bit tacky, it wasn't very sturdy!) but it did the job.

On Monday after Thanksgiving, I took him to the eyewear center. We could have easily just gotten a replacement strap and been on our way, but Carl and I decided it was a good time to get him entirely new frames. His glasses were, we knew, too big for his head. They were constantly slipping to the end of his nose, and in order to get them tight enough to stay on well, they were too tight. I knew they made similar frames in smaller rectangles, designed for babies, and I thought they may fit his face better.

We talked about how he could choose a different color, and he was excited about that. We tried them on him, and it was immediately clear that the smaller frame was a much better fit for his face. When we got his first pair, it was after the initial visit, we were all tired, and he really wanted blue. This time he wasn't already exhausted, and we had time to really look at the frames. He chose the green over a gray pair. (and, incidentally, I forgot to get a replacement strap, so we had to wait out the new pair in bag tie glory!)

For the past two weeks, he's been very excited about his new glasses, asking frequently when they'll be ready. His most common statement was, "Now they won't call me Erik!" This is true--at Erik's school, he is often mistaken for Erik, and very often called Erik if not just compared to him. I hadn't realized how good it would be for him to exert that independence as a person, or that it had even registered with him.

Finally, they were in. We waited for our turn at the eyewear center, and when his name was called and we went back, he put them on, looked in the mirror, grinned as big as can be and announced, "Great! Let's go!" Such a difference from his first pair.

They were adorable on him! For comparison's sake, here is a picture of him in the old blue (notice them at the end of his little nose)



And sporting the new green!