Blind and deaf

Ok. For most of Tru's sweet little life, he has existed in what we call "Tru World". As a toddler, he would lay flat on the floor and become one with whatever trains he was playing with. On top of it all, he was born smart as all get out. Seriously, by 18 months he knew all of his letters and the sounds they made and would divide his m-n-m's up by colors. It was almost freaky at times. We found out he could read at 3 when our babysitter told us that Caroline got stuck on a word (in a book her teacher sent home for her to read, not one we had at home) and Tru told her (in an exasperated voice) what it was.

He is an adorable and quirky kid. But because of some of these (and other issues and talents), we decided, along with his pediatrician, to have some developmental testing done before kindergarten. We went into it with an open mind and some ideas of our "worst case scenarios" and came out understanding him so much better and thrilled that the specialists felt like there were no issues he wouldn't grow out of with some time and maturity. They confirmed that he was one smart cookie and were all charmed by him. I could go on and on about all the things they said, but bragging isn't polite. Let's just say, he is already smarter than me.

Recently, however, Tru has seemed more and more out of it at times. Like at Target, he will walk right in front of someone pushing a cart. I cannot tell you how many times I have said, "Tru! Do you not see these people?! There are other people in the world than just our family, buddy." Or he has stood nose to screen with the television. Or when he was looking for something, I would have to lead him over to things that seemed like they were right under his nose. I don't know if the frequency of these incidents have increased, or my expectations for him at his age have, but I found myself more and more frustrated by his inability to notice what was going on around him. We would also have to repeat anything we said to Tru a million times. Or say his name often and loudly. Was he ignoring us? Being defiant? ARGH!!!!

I made an appointment for him at the ENT and we discovered that his 3rd set of tubes had fallen out. We scheduled another set to be put in and WALAH--he can hear. 2 weeks later at his well child check up, the pediatrician said he FAILED the vision test. She said he big time failed it. So . . . specialist appointment #2 was made. I'll be honest, I expected him to have some vision issues, like maybe have to wear glasses when he looked at the board or watched TV, but I really thought he bombed the test at the ped's office because he was a little hyper and silly that day and I figured he wasn't really paying attention.

WRONG.

Our friend, Brent, is our eye doctor, and he kept shaking his head and saying, "I mean, he is significantly far sighted." The poor, poor child is SO farsighted that he can't see up close either. And he has astigmatism (?) in both eyes.

HE REALLY DIDN'T SEE THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM AT TARGET!

We are working on finding a pair of glasses for him. He's pretty bummed . . . that they don't make Dwayne Wayne glasses anymore. You know, the kind where the shades flip up. Ha! I love him.

His vision is so bad that we will not go full strength or full time with his glasses right away. He'll start at a decreased prescription and ease into them several hours at a time and then eventually we will go full strength.

But can you imagine how the world is going to open up to him? A month ago he was practically deaf and blind.

And can you imagine how stinkin smart he will be now that he can see and hear? Frightening.

I do know that there is NOT a cuter or smarter or sweeter kid in all the world.

Look at him. Could you not just eat him up?