"Intelligent Chatter" and Eye Glasses

When Steve was two years old he was not yet speaking, but only, very intelligently, baby chattering. This highly amused Reg Kidwell, our very good friend, who would hold him up in his arms and Steve would start pointing at things, especially on the ceiling, and would chatter endlessly. Well, a short time later I noticed that Steve seemed to be squinting and I took him to the doctor who confidently stated, "No, I don't think so, his flat baby nose makes it appear so." Not long after that Steve was sickening for something and was running a raised temperature and I noticed that his left eye was moving significantly slower than his right eye — so back to the doctor we went. This time the doc agreed with me and sent us immediately to the eye specialist who had rooms in the same medical block.

He told us that there was a worrying difference and set up some exercises for his eyes, and after treating him for several weeks he prescribed glasses for the little guy. We took the scrip to the same person who always made our glasses. When the glasses were ready we took Steve to have them fitted. The practitioner sat him on the counter and put the glasses on him. Steve sat there, as good as gold, but his little eyes filled with tears, and very soon there were little pools lying in the bottom of the specs.  I took the glasses off and cleaned them and put them back on, talking soothingly to him as I did so. And this time he accepted them. Only once did he pull them off in a temper — I don't know why, but from then on he never tried to see without them. A whole new world had opened up to him — and almost immediately he began to speak fluently (for a two year old). Prior to our discovery of his eye problem he would bring picture books to his Daddy to show him all the interesting things in them. We found out later that young children who are extremely interested in picture books often have an eye problem.

I also remember a time when Paul had a birthday party out in the back yard, and we sat Steve in his high-chair. We put his goodies in his plate and he had the time of his life mixing them all together into one sticky mess, which he proceeded to eat with great enjoyment — much to the amusement of Paul's young guests.