The EYE has it!

Happy December! We put up all of the decorations on Monday night, but it hardly seems real that the Christmas season is here. I love the festive house, but it doesn't agree with our nearly-two-year-old. Within 24 hours of decorating, Natalie had shattered one of my favorite pieces...a musical snowglobe from my mom-in-law. Clearly I should have known better, it was left in her reach. Next year we'll have two little ones getting into things: Christopher will be a typical toddler handful and Natalie will...well, she'll still be Natalie.

We just love her to bits. Her personality livens up our home. It's so interesting how each of our children adds something different to the mix.

Now to the point! In case you don't remember, Natalie has had tear duct issues for over a year now. In March, she underwent surgery in both ducts to open them and allow them to function correctly. Unfortunately, the surgery was only effective in one eye (at least from our perspective). Her left eye was clear and dry, while her right was still very wet, drippy, and prone to infections. We procrastinated the appointment to see the pediatric ophthalmologist...we just couldn't bear the idea of another surgery, however minor.

Today was Natalie's appointment. The doctor put a yellow dye drop into each eye and watched to see what happened to it. In fully-functioning tear ducts, the dye would drain into the duct and into the nasal cavity. With a blue light, the doc can see the dye when looking into the nose. In closed-ducts, it will just drip out onto the face and none of it will be detected through the nose.

Right away the doctor said he saw some of the dye had drained appropriately. And after waiting a few minutes, he said he could see some in the nose. He determined that her tear duct is partially closed or "narrowed." In most instances, the child slowly outgrows the problem. The doctor was confident that by age 3 or 4, her tear duct will function normally.

NO SURGERY! (He did say that if it was really bothering us, he would go back in a put in a stint, but he encouraged us to be patient and watch for slow improvement.)

My sweet, snowglobe-breaking, almost-2-year-old got a few extra hugs this afternoon and I have let out more than a few sighs of relief.

By the way, Natalie charmed the socks off her doctor. While we were waiting for the drops to move through the duct, she was running in circles around the exam room and giggling like she was at DisneyWorld. We're going to have to work on her problem with timidity.