First Day of School in Glasses

Chloe's Bike Ride

After 3+ years in storage our bikes and trailer finally came out. Dave had some major cleaning and tuning up to do. Chloe enjoyed it!

Chloe's Eyes Update

Amidst all the excitement over Solana's new glasses I forgot to mention Chloe's eye exam report. But first I'd like to mention how awesome it is that Chloe's vision exam is so unremarkable that I failed to mention it at all!

Chloe is still favoring her left eye (the one from which they removed a couple of cataracts) and turning her head to the side to settle the nystagmis. The big concern is that one eye will take over and the other will give up. But she seems to be using both eyes. No patching order again and Dr. Bloom thinks she's stable enough to see her again in six months. That's the first time we've gone more than three months without a visit.

We still don't know what the future will hold for Chloe's vision. Our hope is that her eyes really are stable and that she just has to work on dealing with the vision she has now.

Glasses for Solana

Solana has an astigmatism. Hmm. I wonder where she got that from...

A few weeks ago Dave noticed that she couldn't see some things at a distance that he could see. Dave has exceptionally good vision so I joked that "not everyone has your super vision." But I went ahead and added her on to Chloe's upcoming appointment with Dr. Bloom. The nurse did a quick vision test and said that she's near-sighted. Then they dilated her eyes. Dr. Bloom took a look and immediately said, "Oh yeah. She has an astigmatism." RX: Glasses for school, reading, and computer work. She doesn't need to wear them all the time but she can wear them as much as she wants.

Solana was thrilled to pick out her new frames. She must have tried on 20 pair. I preferred one pair in particular and really wanted them for her but they're a lot like mine. I bit my tongue because I knew she's be unhappy with her glasses if I chose them. She asked my opinion, though and we narrowed it down to four. Then asked the two ladies and one guy working there for their opinion. Everyone agreed on the top two pair and then Solana took them to the mirror to make the final decision. She picked the ones I wanted! Yes!

As I was getting the order placed Solana asked if she could pick a case. She helped herself to all the cabinets stuffed with cases and came up with a heart-shaped case that would fit her glasses. Who knew picking a case would be as (if not more) exciting as picking frames?

We came home for a quick lunch and then I took her to school. She got to wear her sunglasses to school. A very exciting day, indeed. Poor baby.

Oooh Goodie! I love those!

Chloe and I made several stops today after her gymnastics class. One of those stops was to Once Upon A Child, a second-hand clothing shop. We needed a couple of onesies to go under her pajamas. As soon as we walked in she ran to the clothes and said, "Ooooh Goodie! I love these!" Seriously! Where does she get that from? I don't think I've ever felt that way about shopping in my entire life! Her Grammy and Aunts love shopping but they live across the country. Weird.

I couldn't get my phone out fast enough. She rested her cheek on the clothes and hugged them as she said it. This was right after she did it.

Then she started going through the clothes like a seasoned shopper. So weird!

Rainbow Magic Books

After I wrote the last post I decided to text Leticia and Angela to let them know about the Rainbow Magic series. Maybe their 1st graders would like them, too. Leticia suggested she buy some of the books for Solana's birthday. "Great!" I thought. "Now Solana can get the books that the library doesn't carry and I don't have to buy them." So I told Leticia I'd let her know which series the library doesn't carry.

This is how I spent the last 45 minutes. First I had to locate the list of series online. Then I had to copy, paste, and format so that it all fit on one page (didn't want to waste too much paper or flip pages while crossing off my list.) Then I pulled up all the Rainbow Magic books from the library and crossed them off one by one. Either I'm exceptionally neurotic or these kids don't appreciate us enough. Look - I even wore out my pink highlighter!

Solana Parent Teacher Conference

I met with Solana's teacher a couple of weeks ago for a regular conference. Solana's doing great in first grade. She gets along well with other children. She's reading well beyond first grade level. And this doesn't surprise me considering the way she devours books. It's almost embarrassing to pick up our Hold Request books at the library these days. Her pile is HUGE! Her current obsession is the Rainbow Magic series. They're chapter books about magical fairies and each book is devoted to a different fairy. So far she's read the Rainbow, Jewel, Weather, and Pet Fairies series. There are seven books in each series and probably about 20 series. I'm in trouble when she finishes all the ones the library carries. You know how cheap I am when it comes to buying books.

She's also doing well in Math. I was surprised to hear this since I help her with her math homework every day. Math always came easy to me when I was young which is why I think I have a hard time teaching it. But her teacher said she's doing well so that's reassuring.

Solana's currently in speech therapy. I hesitated putting her in it. My mom told me that I was in speech therapy in first grade. They said I mixed up my sh and ch. My mom wasn't convinced that I had a problem. She suggested that perhaps they just thought that because of my ethnicity except that I didn't speak Spanish at all. Already reluctantly allowing me to do speech she arrived at school to pick me up early one day. Upon arrival to my classroom she discovered that I was in speech. The fact that I wasn't there wasn't the problem. The problem was that the other kids blurted out that "she had to go to speech because she can't talk right." Well, that was the last straw. My mom pulled me from speech and I think I "talk right" now. Anyway, Solana definitely has trouble with her S's and R's. I spent a good 45 minutes on the phone with the speech therapist, who reassured me that speech would be a positive experience for her and, as far as she knows, all kids love it and there's no stigma attached. Indeed, Solana loves it. Her speech therapist arrived for part of the conference and used words like, "charming," "a joy to have in class," "hard worker but not too serious to be enjoyable." She glowed when she talked about Solana and made me feel great.

Solana's teacher also made sure to tell me that she has a special gift for poetry. I was not aware. Oh yes! She not only writes poetry but she writes it completely on the spot and TO MUSIC! The music teacher played a tune and Solana immediately came up with the words to go to the tune. Not only did the words fit the tune but they rhymed. She was amazed and so was the music teacher. They agreed that they'd never seen a student do that the way Solana did it. She went on to tell me that Solana sparked an excitement in the entire class and they ran with the assignment. All the students wanted Solana in their group as they wrote verses to the song Solana began. I remember Solana coming off the bus a couple of weeks earlier. She was excited to tell me about the verses she wrote and sang them to me. I didn't know the rest of the story but I'm sure glad I made a big deal about them. It's no wonder she was proud. Apparently, the teachers were beside themselves.

I'm so proud of Solana! She's a great kid. I'm tough on her and don't gush about her nearly enough.