Fall in New England

We have been very busy taking advantage of what autumn in Maine brings.  Mostly apple picking, several times a week.  Pretty much all of our food involves apples and pumpkins until the snow flies.

The boys all love apples and will eat them until they are full.  I have to watch them carefully when we are picking.

We finally had our visit for F's functional vision assessment with a Teacher of the Visually Impaired in mid-September.  While we are still waiting on the report, she told me that he seems to have a good field of vision with all four quadrants of vision functioning.  His acuity is great and he is compensating well with his remaining eye. They are not recommending direct therapeutic services at this time but wish to monitor him as his skills develop.

Both W and F have recently started walking, so life has gotten even crazier.  F has not had any troubles with perceiving where things are when he is walking.  We did have an incident at a play place where he fell a short distance to his left side and freaked out because he didn't see what was coming.  That was the first time in a while where that has happened.  He is our climber and has recently climbed up the five foot ladder into the swingset in the backyard.  I have a few more gray hairs this week.

We have had some significant issues with his eye rotating lately.  I have been able to take it out pretty easily with our handy-dandy suction cup/plunger and he is pretty good about it. In fact, F noticed it and pointed to his socket, then his eye, gesturing that he wanted me to put it back in.  We visit the ocularist again next week to make some adjustments, which will include trying to address the rotation issue.

B has taken to reciting a long list to people we meet.  "This is F, he had eye surgery.  Now he has a super hero eye.  This is W, he didn't have eye surgery.  I am B, I am three, and I call myself Big Brother B."  He is matter of fact about everything and we want to remain open about F and his history.

Some days are still difficult.  A lot of the time I just want this done with.  I know that this is something we will deal with for the rest of our life and I don't want to do it anymore.  F will always be monitored and we will always have to wonder if he will stay in remission.  He will always have only one eye.  Sometimes that is a difficult thing to face as a parent.  I imagine, someday, it will be difficult to face for F as well.  But for now, we do everything we can to make it as normal as possible and to keep him as healthy and happy as we can.