20/40

It happened to me when I was in kindergarten. Happened to Dan when he was in 1st grade. It was bound to happen to Henry at some point.

He has 20/40 vision, which is the point at which an adult fails a driver's test. So.... off to the optometrist we went.

As the doctor informed me that Henry needed glasses, all sorts of thoughts ran through my mind with the primary one being... he was scheduled to start race team three days later and I couldn't figure out how he was going to squeeze a pair of glasses under his ski goggles and helmet. I brought up the possibility of Henry wearing contacts. The doctor said the youngest he had ever fit contacts for a kid was 3rd grade (Henry's in 3rd!) and that the kid would have to be very mature (Henry's mature!). So, we gave it a shot.

Just less than a week later, and he's doing okay with the contacts. It's been quite the learning curve and the two biggest challenges are: the flinch/blink reflex and learning how to look in a mirror. For an 8 year old, placing a contact on your eyeball based on your reflection in a mirror is much more difficult than an adult might think. Dan and I have been putting contacts in for 25+ years each... with over 50 years experience, we've been able to coach him along and at this point Henry can take both of them out and he's about 50% there with putting them in.

He'll get it. He will. Just takes some time. And in the meantime, we got the glasses for backup.

Dang it! Now I have to deal with flash glare when I take photos. :-(