Nerd Alert!
posted Saturday February 19th, 2011
I knew Sophie would not be disappointed to learn she needed glasses. But I was a little surprised when Annabelle asked, plaintively, “Can I have some glasses, too?”
She’s not having trouble seeing. She’s just a slave to her own particular brand of fashion — inspired in part, she acknowledged, by Harriet the Spy. Turns out she’s not alone; Claire’s (the accessory store of choice for the tween and pre-tween set) actually stocks non-prescription glasses. Since we have not had luck yet, finding Sophie the real thing, we headed to the mall tonight. The girls picked out matching pairs.
Both are thrilled. “I can see better!” Sophie announced at dinner. I don’t know about that, but I’m hoping this $7.50 investment will help teach her over the next few days how to take care of glasses, which you can’t toss around like, say, an iPad.
I’m on a quest to find just the right glasses, after a multi-pronged disaster at Lenscrafters. Cate suggested the glasses made just for kids with Down syndrome. I’m thinking about it, but the selection is so narrow. Not much personality. I suppose fit trumps fashion in this case, but still. I have to admit that I hate for Sophie to look like all the other kids with Down syndrome in their standard-issue glasses. (And standard-issue haircut, which she also has. At least you seldom see anyone — particularly a person with Down syndrome — sporting a purple sundress with white duct tape polka dots stuck on in February.)
Annabelle eyed the turkey sandwich on her plate and asked, “Can I have just a tomato sandwich in my lunch sometime, like Harriet?”
Absolutely. That is the kind of nerdiness I can embrace.
We did finally go with the glasses made for DS folks after two pairs that we just couldn’t get to fit/stay on properly. Also, we did not find a lot of different syles anywhere else that would be flexible and sturdy enough for a child. All kids glasses look pretty much the same. They are bloody expensive. It took about 3 months and one new set of lenses before Kayli got it about taking care of her glasses. Luckily she has lots of friends and classmates with glasses so she likes having them.
It has been 40 years but I still remember the envy I felt when my sister needed glasses. I sit here now with reading glasses thicker than my double-pane windows. Be careful what you wish for Anabelle.
with two four-eyed parents, annabelle is destined.
Awww.. I just listened to Sophie’s B. You are so right. Kayli still has a boy friend with a mop of adorable red hair who is a great friend to her, watches out for her and can talk about DS. She’s been fast friends with him since pre-school, they spend a lot of time wound around each other companionably. Of course he’s 10 now and growing up with other interests but they share a class and a strong bond nonetheless. Kayli and her school are the same way as Sophie which is why we fought her placement at a different school last year to go to a “special class”. She’s made it to 4th grade and I’m hoping for 6th and then middle school with the rest.
Beautiful job Amy!
agreed, nearly all the glasses choices for kids with Ds are crappy, and the still-trying-to-hang-on-to-coolness dad in me just refused to do the “made for us” thing.
We’ve got archer in a pair of Miraflex glasses, which, if nothing else, are super durable. They also offer a bunch of color choices, so they can be somewhat personalized.
http://miraflex.info/catalog/basic/index2.htm
here’s a pic of my boy in the rectangular ones:
http://disposablebrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/mex2010_2.jpg
Anyway, good luck. I’m sure Sophie will be just as cool in her new glasses as without!
Ryan had some of those cool round glasses with the flip up sunshades as worn by Dwayne Wayne (?) on a TV show in the 80s. Then he had some of those candy apple red unisex preppie frames as worn by Sally Jesse Raphael. With both he looked and felt pretty cool.
I have a friend who has had good luck finding glasses for herself and her kids with this website :
http://www.zennioptical.com/
You can upload a picture and try on frames, specify materials and shapes. It looks pretty cool.