In my (nearly) eleven months of parenting, I've learned it's quite normal to worry for your child. If Ellie happens to fall down, I
want to see that she's ok (especially if it's down the stairs). Once I
know she's fine, I tell her to suck it up and quit crying (Don't spell my name
with an 'I' when nominating me for father of the year). Of course, we've had to
go through the process of being worried about Ellie's weight and whether or not
she's growing fast enough. For the record, she's growing so fast now that we're
strug-gal-ling to keep her in clothing that fits.
One part of being a parent who's concerned for your child's
well-being is to schedule normal check-ups. Now, I've always known that doctor
appointments are a constant thing for babies. I think that may be part of
Parenting 101. However, until we had Ellie, I didn't know that people actually
subjugated their infant children to eye exams. So with her eleven month birthday
rapidly approaching, I decided that it was indeed time to subjugate Ellie to her first
eye exam. That's especially true when you consider that infant eye exams are
free for those under a year of age.
With Ellie around, I've discovered the importance of allotting
adequate time for us to head anywhere since I need time to get her in and
out of the car seat. Therefore, Ellie and I left home today at 2:05 to make the
long, arduous, two-mile drive to the eye doctor's office for her 2:15
appointment. Once we arrived, I was greeted by a nice stack of paperwork to
fill out. Luckily, Ellie was extremely happy to play in the children's area
until I completed said paperwork (She only tried to escape once!). Shortly thereafter we were called back to an exam room.
I don't know what I expected when scheduling Ellie for an
infant eye exam. I think I just thought the exam would be something like
"Look at the pretty pen; follow the pretty pen from side-to-side and up
and down". Imagine my surprise when a nurse comes in saying, "She's
going to hate this part. Babies never like having their eyes dilated." So,
there I sit in the big exam chair, tightly holding my daughter and expecting the worse.
The nurse pulls out a tiny bottle with a long tube attached,
not unlike a can of compressed air, and holds it up to Ellie's right eye.
Pressing the nozzle, a thin stream of liquid comes out, pelting Ellie right in
the eye. She jerks backwards, blinking multiple times but doesn't have any other
reaction. The nurse then repeats the process on the left eye before adding,
"I've never had a baby so good at getting their eyes dilated." I'm
still actually trying to decide if I should be proud of Ellie for this
achievement or if it just means she's weird. She's probably weird...
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| I think I could style my hair in those big black eyes! |
After a short wait, the doctor entered the room to check
Ellie's eyes. If you're wondering how an infant's eye exam is conducted, the
eye doctor uses a variety of lights to track eye movement and muscle control. I was
slightly worried about the outcome of these tests considering that I
had a lazy eye as a kid. Also, it's possible that Bethany's contact lenses are part of the
Hubble telescope. It turned out my worries were in vain as Ellie checked out
perfectly for her age. Side note, it's intriguing to me that all babies should be farsighted at Ellie's age.
It's nice to be able to chalk Ellie's first eye exam up as a
success. I think I expected things to go pretty terrible, especially with
less-than-optimal napping on her part today. There was really only one brief
moment where I was concerned. Of course, that was because the eye doctor
recognized me after not going to that office for two years. Nothing's worse
than giving an eye doctor the old "It's not you, it's my insurance"
speech. I'm just glad he didn't cry because if he cried, then I would have
cried and then it just would have been a big, awkward situation for all of us.
#DaddyWrite
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| Believe it or not, this photo was the doctor's idea... |
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