"It Smells Like Good"

J Bean was prescribed glasses a few months ago for a little eye crossing, which is a result of her trouble focusing. We just went back for her follow up appointment and the doc says the eyes are aligning much better, but she is not seeing as well out of her right eye. The solution for this? Cover the left eye with a big patch for two months and force the brain to deal with the input from the weaker eye now that the crossing is no longer exacerbating the problem. J Bean has taken the whole experience in stride and has adapted to her glasses quite well and hardly skipped a beat her first week with the patch. Other than not being able to tell how far away my popcorn laden hand is and being frustrated with the need to take steps a little more cautiously, she seems to be doing great with it. On one hand, I feel terrible we have to keep this on her for two months, but I'm also happy to see she is able to meet these challenges and has displayed some resiliency. I know I wouldn't be in as good of a mood if I had to wear a pirate patch all day every day, can you imagine how irritating that must be? Not to a two year old though, she has enjoyed the extra attention the patch has brought and likes to laugh at herself in the mirror while yelling "Yarr!!!" at the top of her lungs. She gave an impromptu performance of Twinkle "Ittle" Star in a gift shop yesterday and received a round of applause from the friendly shoppers. 

It seems the unique patch has actually boosted her self-esteem rather than taking away from it, which makes me very happy. This coupled with a walk through the park the first day with the patch reminded me again just how awesome this little person is. While checking out the garden at the park, we came to a spot with some flowers near the sidewalk. J Bean stooped probably 2 feet away (not having any depth perception) and proceeded to sniff the flowers despite distance, the strong wind and a stuffy nose. She turned to me with one sparkling eye and said, "Smells like good, Daddy!" That's right little one, it sure does.