Ellie got glasses about a month ago now, and while it was yet another "thing" on our list of growing "things" we are dealing with and getting taken care of, we realize it's really not that big of a deal in the grand scheme. But, like anything, you have to pause and go "hmmm, this is not what we planned for our 3-yr-old". Since there are many generations of glasses wearers in our family's, we knew our kids would eventually get glasses but we hoped it would be at age 5 or 6, not age 3.
The optician's at our eye doc's office were great, though they did make me nervous (ok, and a little ticked) with all the dooms-day predictions of how Ellie would trash her glasses and we'd be in every weekend, and how it's so much easier explaining to a 5-yr old kid the need to wear and protect these things, blah, blah, blah. Ellie is my fearless kid - everything she has ever done since birth has been without hesitation, so I knew that as soon as she could see the difference glasses made, there wouldn't be a problem.
I think we had her wearing them most of the time within three days, and her teachers at school had her wearing them without issue the first day I sent the glasses to school. Slowly, we have been increasing the "venues" for wear, so that Ellie gets used to having them on in the car, grocery shopping, church, etc. A few weeks ago, we had a kids Christmas party after church with a potluck lunch and a visit from Santa - I thought this was the perfect opportunity for Ellie to wear her glasses at church - she'd be in a new crowd but still under my care (as opposed to the Sunday School teachers care).
What was amazing to me was how shy she was with them! When people would say "nice glasses Ellie!" she would whip them off her face and not be interested in wearing them for a while. That hurt my Mommy-heart because I knew that she knew something was different for her than the rest of the kids.
So then I ramped up my search for a cartoon or character in a book that wore glasses - surprisingly, there are none! I have been watching and looking for a while, and realize there are many cartoons that meet the various aspects of a child's life - absentee parents (where are Max & Ruby's parents?), younger siblings (Caillou and Dora), etc. but there are no kids that wear glasses (at least none that I could see in the times of our Treehouse TV viewings).
Daddy Pig is the closest character I found. He's from Ellie's favourite British cartoon "Peppa Pig", and thanks to her Auntie's who live in the UK, we are huge fans. While Ellie can relate more to 3-yr old Peppa and her baby brother George, Daddy Pig often gets admired (by me) for wearing glasses in hopes that Ellie would see them as normal.
Then today's miracle happened. We went for a treat for lunch and got a McDonald's Happy Meal. Alvin & The Chipmunks is the current box and the toys, and when you order a Happy Meal they just ask if you want a girl toy or a boy toy. Usually we don't bother with the toys but today I said a toy for a girl - to my amazement, it was a girl chipmunk named Jasmine. Ellie was playing and playing with her and then all of a sudden, we both saw that she was wearing glasses! Ellie said "hey, I wear glasses too!" to Jasmine, and has been inseparable from this little toy (even taking her to bed at nap and bed time).
This has been my miracle today, and while there are miracles every day, I had to write about this one. God has blessed me with a cartoon character who wears glasses! God is so good!
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