I had my yearly eye exam recently and I asked when Tristan should see the optometrist as he wouldn’t have the assessments through school. The optometrist said now was the perfect time and they scheduled him in 48 hours later.
We borrowed a couple of books from our local library prior to going to the optometrist so that we could review what was going to happen.
Having An Eye Test by Vic Parker has short two-page chapters that explain in simple and clear language the process of having an eye test, the equipment involved, wearing glasses, and how to keep your eyes healthy.
I Am An Optician in the Caring For Us series by Deborah Chacellor explains the jobs within the optician’s office and describes the optician’s job. It also describes some of the terminology you may hear them use.
Tristan gave us a scare with his eyes when he was just 6 weeks old (and still 5 weeks before his due date). In the neo-natal unit they check babies’eyes for retinopathy of prematurity because they are exposed to light 24 hours a day in the rooms. Tristan had been doing well, but just before he was released they told us his blood vessels had begun to grow too fast. I once had wanted to become an optometrist myself, and am still interested in the area but they wouldn’t allow parents to watch the tests as it is stressful for the babies and they don’t want the parents to see it or interfere. We had to take him back to the neo-natal unit a couple of times again after his release for them to check his eyes, but in the end he was given the all-clear. Still, I was a bit nervous for Tristan’s appointment nonetheless.
We arrived at the optometrist’s office and Tristan sat up in the big chair and the Dr. moved it up to a higher level and had a peek in his eyes. Tristan has always gone with me for my appointments so he know just what to expect. His eye health is just fine, what a relief! Then it was on to reading the charts. The Dr. didn’t sound so sure about Tristan knowing his letters when he found out we were homeschooling, but as Tristan has completed reading 25 library books on his own over this summer with the library challenge, I had no worries about that.
Tristan did very well and had every letter read as requested. He also did well at making his choice of “which one is better: this…or this?” Tristan isn’t always very good at making choices, he prefers to be diplomatic and say both are equally good, but he was quite quick on his choices on this day.
So that’s it for us for another year, we both passed our exams! But that didn’t stop us from having some fun by bringing out the optician’s office we made last summer. Come back again later in the week when we’ll share it with you!
We’ve shared some of our other firsts with you. Have you read about Kallista’s first dental appointment or Tristan’s first shave?
