Peter's Glasses

The other day I was getting groceries at our Super Wal-mart (yes, unfortunately I have to shop there sometimes), when I noticed that the Eye-Care Center was open, and the specialist was in. Rather on a whim, I decided to see if Peter could get an eye exam.
I've always had a sneaky suspicion that Peter's eyesight wasn't quite right, and although the price of getting an eye exam made me a bit squeamish, I decided to go with my instinct. Peter complains of headaches more often than I think a child should get them, and I've noticed him sitting close to the TV to watch movies. My suspicions weren't from anything that stood out in particular, and there were lots of reasons to explain his behavior, but still I wanted to know for certain that my little boy was okay.

I was happy to learn that an exam could be given to a little boy his age, although putting the pupil-diluting drops in his eyes was not fun at all. Thankfully the sting only seemed to last a minute or so (although getting them IN took about 30 minutes).He thought it was cool that he had to wear sunglasses in the store afterwards, so that the lights wouldn't hurt his overly enlarged pupils.
Breanna, of course, not wanting to miss out on any of the drama, insisted that her eyes were hurting too.
So, after the exam, I learned that my fears were justified, and Peter did indeed need glasses, due to an astigmatism in both eyes.

Hooray, I get to put fragile, expensive, and semi-lethal objects on my son's head.
The day after I got the glasses, I (note, I) dropped them onto the gravel driveway and got the lenses horribly scratched. The irony of this was not lost on me, or the poor specialist who tried very hard not to giggle when I brought Peter's sad looking glasses back in to be repaired. My four-year-old gets glasses, and his mommy is the one to break them first. *Sigh*. Thankfully, they were still under warranty, so a new pair of lenses were ordered for free.

A week later, a day before his new lenses came in, Peter lost his glasses.

So, feeling extremely foolish and idiotic, I had to go back to the Eye Care Center, and explain that I had to purchase new frames for my free pair of lenses, because we'd already lost them. (Remember, this is only a week later). The specialist heroically contained her snickering and rang up a totally new set of glasses, which thankfully only cost me $10.

The only smart thing I did with those stupid glasses was ensuring at the outset that I got the cheapest pair, foreseeing that I'd no doubt have to replace them soon and often.