The Daily Hailey

I could not be more thankful to those of you who prayed and inquired and loved us in the last day or two.

As I mentioned, yesterday Dekker wore his glasses for a total of about thirty minutes. Before I talk about how the day went, I will be the first to admit that I did not go into it optimistically. I woke up with braxton hicks, I was super dizzy, and all I could hear in my head were Dekkers screams from yesterday. There was sooo much screaming yesterday. I was dreading today. However, I felt a bit better prepared after a little research that I did last night. I looked up tips on how to introduce glasses to a toddler, and got a few helpful ideas. In no particular order…

Tell your child how great they look, and point out any cartoon character, family member, or friend who has glasses.

Don’t make a huge deal of the glasses. If the child pulls them off, try and put them back on, and if they pull them back off, give them a minute before going again. But be persistent.

Keep positive! (I was bad at this one yesterday. I’m sure Dekker knew how I dreaded trying to put his glasses on him.) Don’t apologize or say things like “I know its so hard!” when they’re sad. Be encouraging instead.

Leave those suckers alone! When they’re on, do not touch them!

Be entertaining. As soon as the kid is bored, those glasses come off.

Something we also did was celebrate HUGE when we took his glasses off. Glasses are for mom and dad to put on and take off, not for Dekker.

I also opted to wear the glasses I wear for crocheting all day. Then our whole family would have glasses!

So while Brady got Dekker up for the day, I headed to the kitchen to get Dekker’s cereal and milk on his tray. It sounded fine until Dekker started crying and squealing. My heart sank, for about ten seconds, and then I heard “Wow! You look amazing Dekker!” and he had recovered! Waaay faster than yesterday! When Brady brought Dekker out, we celebrated how great he looked and how nice the day looked. We chucked him in his highchair and gave him his banana right off the bat. Usually we wait a little bit but wanted to keep him engaged. So we “rewarded” him with his favorite breakfast food. I know, my kid isn’t a dog, don’t reward with food. It worked! While he ate we showed him all sorts of toys and fed him a lot more than he usually eats. He had “Daddys special cereal” which is just Life as opposed to his usual Cheerios, his banana, yogurt, raspberries, and pineapple before he went down to play. We followed him pretty closely, keeping watch on him in case he went for his glasses and we could catch him in the process. But he didn’t! The glasses need some adjusting, as they slide to the end of his nose a lot, but we figure if he can get used to that, it’ll just be a bonus when they actually fit and don’t slide. At least the whole time he played toys, he was looking down and through the lenses. Not ideal, but it worked. He ran around and played really well! And better than ever! We read more books than we’ve ever read in such a short time span! He left those things alone for an hour and twenty minutes before he sniped them off his face.

But as soon as they were off, he looked a little hesitant. He tried to turn around, misjudged his step, and fell over. He landed on his knees in some mega blocks, which would hurt anyone 🙁 Brady scooped him up while he was crying and I put those glasses right back on. I know, it sounds mean, but he recovered from the pain in seconds flat and didn’t even seem to notice the glasses were back!

He played hard until nap time, and when we took his glasses off and celebrated, he was sooo proud! His entire evening awake, he did not touch his glasses, and even stood still and let us adjust them from time to time. I say again, NOT ONCE did he even attempt to pull his glasses off! If he knocked them a little, he’d readjust them back to a comfortable spot. He can see better, and he knows it. I could not be prouder.

So as I said in the beginning of the post, to those of you who thought of us and prayed for us, we can tell, and we are so thankful for you! Today could not have gone better! Tomorrow will be my first day alone with him, and I would appreciate it if you could all keep the prayers coming.

I have lots of pictures from today and I’ll try to pick and choose, but the little mister loved seeing himself today! Clearly he knows how great he looks!

My little boy is back. He was more “himself” this evening than he’s been in the last month, and while I know we will still have challenging days ahead, I am hopeful and feeling refreshed.

God is good.