The CUTEST little blind girl

Monday afternoon, Jenny and I ventured off to the eye doctor to pick up her new glasses. In my mind, I saw my little girl so appreciative of her new ability of see that she would gladly and constantly want to wear her new glasses. As nearly all things in my mind, it didn't go that way.

When we left the doctor's building, Jenny hands me the glasses and proceeds to inform me that she doesn't like her glasses; she doesn't want to wear them. I begin the plea-bargain.

1. "Jenny don't you want to be able to see all the neat things this world has to show you?" - Nope.
2. "Jenny, these glasses are very special and made just for you. Don't you want to wear them?" - Nope.
3. "We'll go get McDonald's and then go out to the airport if you wear your new glasses" -  Okay.

While I realize that bribery is not the best thing to teach my child, at this point I'm desperate. The glasses were expensive and I really don't care if she doesn't want to wear them, she's going to wear them!

Once they were on her face, it took her another two hours to get tired of them. I think part of her was overwhelmed by what she could now see. As we were watching the airplanes and the birds and the people at the airport overlook, Jenny was most amazed by the ground. I guess I never realized how little of the ground details she could see.



Jenny's first ride on the train
where she could actually see everything.

Next day, I put on my own glasses and (because the weather was beautiful) we headed to the zoo.

This was the first time Jenny had ever really
seen the polar bear underwater.

An AMAZING experience for a kid who has never really seen an elephant before, or the eagle, or the owl (no wonder she freaked out when the darn thing approached the glass the last time).



Jenny scolded this peacock for walking among the flowers.

Despite the crowd and the day cares and the church Bible camps who also took advantage of the beautiful weather, we had a really great day. My curious little girl had never before asked me so many questions about so many things. "What's that, Mom?" became her all-too-familiar phrase for the day.

It is truly amazing to see things through the eyes of this child. The wonder and the newness were incredibly humbling. Every now and again, I looked over my glasses at the exhibits and the animals and the people we were seeing and wondering how this little girl ever decided to love this place. (My eyesight is only slightly better than Jenny's). Some of the animals - the ones we saw up close, like the Bonobos (monkeys) and the insects - I could see fairly well. But the macaques and the gorillas, the manatees and the seals, the wolves and her beloved eagle . . . Without my glasses, I could barely make out their shapes, let alone the details.

I am both proud and in awe of my daughter's coping skills to this point. How in the world did she not fall down every five seconds? How did she manage to find her way in crowds of people? How could she possibly manage to do something as simple as watch an episode of SuperWhy and not wonder what they were talking about half the time?

Today, Jenny's third day with her glasses, she has accepted that she can see much better with them. There has been very little bribery today to get her to wear them. Soon I'll be able to go back to wearing my contacts again, I hope. I thank all of you who have seen Jenny with her glasses and have told her how beautiful she looks with them on. It's made a world of difference and I can only hope that Jenny will continue to know just how beautiful she is, both inside and out, with or without her glasses.