April 29, 2009 - Here's Looking at You, Kid

Grace went to the opthamologist today.  He was pleased that we were being so proactive about Grace's vision and he assured me that she is not cross-eyed.  It turns out she has what they call a "pseudo squint", which is a way of saying "it looks like her left is crossed, but it isn't!"  The bridge of her nose is a little bit flat and, as a result, her skin is pushed out into her eye a little bit on the left side.  So it looks like her left eye is crossed because we can't see the white of her eye on that side, but really it isn't.  She followed the lights he moved around perfectly; he said that with time her nose will "de-flatten" and the whites of her eye will appear more.  What a relief!  He said it was good that we had it checked because if she did have a "true squint", this is the best age to start corrective treatment.  He also thinks that given my family's vision history and the fact that both Kristoffer and I wear glasses, it would be good to give Grace a full exam just to make sure that her vision is starting off well.  He gave me some drops to dilate her pupils before our visit next week and I felt much better about her left eye.

In other news, Grace loves "tummy time" which we usually do in the morning and in the evening.  She is definitely smiling a lot more and giggling a bit too - it is very cute!  I actually think my favorite time with her now is when she is being changed because she is extremely smiley when she gets a new diaper or when she is naked!  Something else that is funny about Grace is that she really WANTS to suck her thumb, and often we can hear her in crib trying to do it, but she just can't seem to figure out how to get the thumb in her mouth without the rest of her hand.  Usually she ends up with a fist in her mouth or gumming her knuckles.  This too is very cute!

Last night, Grace and Kristoffer were practicing making faces.  Here they can do a sad face:

And here they can do a happy, or at least a not-sad, face:

Friday is Labor Day in Kenya so Grace and I are very excited to have a 3-day weekend with Kristoffer!  I think that means I get to sleep in on Friday morning :)

LMW