Biggest Family Mystery Ever... SOLVED!

My amazing Hayley-Girl is... shall we say, hesitant.

She's hesitant to go places alone. She doesn't want to find the bathroom on her own at a restaurant or look at something in a different aisle at the store. She'd rather stay with me.

It took her two years (yes, two years) before she'd go to the drinking fountain alone at our church in WA.

And if she has to go somewhere completely separate from me? Oh Lord Jesus, help us all.

Two summers ago, she and Emma went to a Girl Scout day camp together. Emma hopped out of the car and started running toward the Meeting Field. Hayley cried and cried. "Mommy, don't make me go alone. Walk with me. I don't know where to go. What if I get lost?" Emma (who is three years younger) eventually came back to the car, taking Hayley's hand and leading her to her group.

Not normal.

And now we know why.

The girl can't see. She's worn glasses for years, but even with her glasses, she could barely focus on anything.

Of course, we updated her glasses every year, but in the meantime, her vision would change so dramatically, yet so gradually, that she didn't even realize she couldn't see properly.

No wonder the poor girl never wanted to go anywhere on her own! Who would when they can't see to figure out where to go?

I've been banging my head on the wall since Scott and I figured this out the other day. (I've got a nice orange peel print on my forehead now. LOL) How could we not have seen this? (No pun intended. Heehee!) How could we not have deduced this before now?

I took Hayley in for an eye exam last week. She's been telling me for a while that she needs new glasses, but we needed to wait until our new insurance could help pay for them.

The amazing Dr. J. actually held two lenses up to my eyes to show me what Hayley could see without her glasses. I'm not kidding you, Delicious Readers... blobs. All she can see are blobs. No detail. No definition. Just masses of faded color.

Then he showed me what she was seeing with her current glasses. Better, but still, I was horrified that she's been struggling to actually focus and I've been telling her to wait.

Had I only known, I would have paid just about anything to help the poor child.

Naturally, new glasses are in order, but more than that, she's getting contacts! The doctor gave her a sample pair that she's been wearing successfully for the past several days. This is huge news when you consider that Hayley, until very recently, has been intensely touch-sensitive. I never thought she'd been able to wear contacts, but she's been doing great with them.

Her sole frustration lies in that sometimes the lenses flip inside out when she tries to put them on. Neither Scott nor I have ever used contacts (and I don't ever wear glasses, thank you very much), so we cannot help her. I made sure she fully understood that before we left the optometrist's office.

I am so crazy proud of her for succeeding with contacts. My little girl is maturing.

And maybe now that she can actually see again, she'll develop the self-confidence she so desperately needs.