working on the spidey sense

last week, luca went for a check-up with the optomestrist.  we needed to see how much his weak eye had adapted to the glasses. (he has amblyopia, commonly known as lazy eye.)  the doctor was encouraged by his progress, but still recommended he begin using an eye patch.  by covering his stronger eye (also called occlusion) we will be forcing the weak eye to work harder and retrain how the brain reads what that eye sees.  for the next three months, he will need to wear it for a minimum of two hours a day with a goal of five hours a day.



after the appointment, i did a mad google search for diy eye patches.  i knew i did not have the energy or time to figure out a how-to myself and that some crafty mama out there had tried this.  turns out i was right.  i am so thankful for this tutorial at lucykate crafts.  it was easy to follow and completely does its job.  she has a flickr pool as well and i was so excited to find this photo from another mama with a spiderman-loving boy.  i knew it would be the inspiration for our first patch.



so far, wearing the patch has been a struggle.  luca immediately felt the loss of his good eye and is frustrated each time he puts it on.  (you can see it in his so-not-happy face above.)  my hope is that by making several patches in designs unique to his tastes, he will be less likely to fight us.  when i get the others made, i will be sure to post photos.  



the great news from last week is that gia does not need glasses at this time.  yay!  she will need to go back in about 18 months for a recheck, but we are very glad.  (enzo goes to an opthamologist next month!)