"Lock the doors and close the blinds -- we're going for a ride..."

Well, it's official -- Av just got his glasses today! Here's a picture of him wearing them:



Okay. So I'm lying. That's not really him, nor are those his glasses. He has these very cute Disney frames which are the same shade of brown as his eyes are.

The reason we don't have any pictures of him wearing his glasses?  Simple -- because he simply refuses to keep them on his face.

I was on my way to pick up Av from day care today and became stuck in a traffic jam at the Dulles Toll Road / Beltway interchange caused by police cruisers just sitting there and making sure that we're driving like good little boys and girls. I called K, who was a lifesaver and was able to pick up Av, while I made a detour at Target to get diapers.  On my way out, K "direct-connected" me (thanks, Nextel!) -- they had just arrived home and heard a message that Av's glasses came in! We agreed to meet up at the opthamologist's office which closed at 7.

And so we arrived. All three of us were exhausted. Apparently so was the optician. And especially Av. As much as we tried to distract him, he would instinctively swat the glasses away from his face while we were trying to put them on for the fitting. We tried giving him toys and even his little blue puppy (Guggenheim) who usually stays at home. But he certainly knew that he didn't want these on his face.  He was not happy with us.

Did we just assume that he would take to his glasses? Perhaps. He's such an easy going kid. I mean -- he's even had a broken leg in a splint and he remained happy!  Why wouldn't he be just as happy with these? I mean -- eventually he'll figure out that they make him see better!

But I realized something from my own childhood -- glasses suck. They can be uncomfortable. it's a new sensation -- this thing sitting on your nose. And it's obstructive to the world you know without them. Av loves books -- he can point to bananas, balls, ducks, cats, dogs, apples and babies and say what they are.  Will glasses make all of this clearer for him? Perhaps. Will he grow to realize the detail that he may be missing now without them? Maybe. But will he embrace the idea of glasses any time soon? Not bloody likely.

So we've been gleaning the 'net -- trying to see what other parents have done to encourage glasses wearing among their kids. But it's still quite rare for someone only 18 months old to be wearing them! The advice that's out there is for parents of kids who can rationalize a bit better. I'd love to find other kids who started wearing glasses at that age. In fact, I know of only one.

Me.

I need to call my Dad and ask him his advice. How did they get me to wear my glasses? I honestly can't remember life before I had them. So much so that, when I had an eye operation when I was three, the sensation of not  having my glasses was a weird one for me.  But I'm afraid that my parents will simply tell me that they simply restrained me, holding my arms down, until I got used to the sensation of them.  I don't want Av to resent his glasses the way that I eventually did.

Until then -- we'll start with a clean slate tomorrow. We'll see if we can get him wearing them starting first thing in the morning. And we'll try throughout the weekend to encourage him to wear them when he brings us a book to read with him.  I guess all we can do is try at this point...

Only other news is that my cel phone started acting weird again. And only three weeks after I exchanged it because I busted a button on my original one. Kudos to Nextel for having a good exchange program for phones! And kudos to me for actually buying a serial cable for my phone so I could back up my ringtones. (Who ever thought you'd need to make a backup copy of your phone?)

K made a good observation -- the kid in the picture above is wearing the same glasses as Charles Nelson Reilly in my icon picture! Who knew?