“I see two mommys,” Drake said giggling one day at dinner time.  At 3 Drake is prone to all kinds of silly talk, so I simply brushed it off.  A few moments later he started giggling again saying, “I see two mommies.”  Unsure about what to think, I told him, “You only have one mommy.”  Then he got more insistent, “I see twoooo mommies.  Twooo mommies!”  It was then that Mr. Chocolate looked over at Drake more closely and turned to me to say, “I think Drake has a lazy eye.”

A lazy eye occur when the brain favors one eye over the other, causing the less favored eye to wander to the side at times. Mr. Chocolate is familiar with lazy eyes, as he and his father both have them. Mr. Chocolate told me that sometimes when the eye wanders to the side it can cause double vision, which was why Drake was insisting he could see two of me. Looking at Drake I couldn’t pick out any difference from his face, but I guess because Mr. Chocolate is more familiar with the condition, it clicked when he thought about how he inherited it from his own father.

When Mr. Chocolate was around Drake’s age, he was diagnosed with a lazy eye.  He was fitted with an eye patch to help strengthen his weaker eye.  I remember flipping through Mr. Chocolate’s photo albums at his parents’ house of when he was growing up, and seeing him wear his eye patch through the years.  Luckily when he entered school many of the kids in his class thought the patch was neat and cool and instead of being teased for it, he was actually a mini celebrity for it. One Halloween Mr. Chocolate’s mom even made him a pirate costume since he already had the perfect accessory to match the costume. The eye patch definitely made a difference as Mr. Chocolate’s father’s lazy eye was never treated, and it is quite apparent at times when his eye begins to drift. Sometimes when Mr. Chocolate gets tired his can also drift a bit, but because of the help of the patch he has better control of it and can often pull it back, especially if I mention it to him.

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I admit I am a little daunted at the idea of this new discovery. I always assumed Drake and Juliet would need corrective lenses at some point in their lives — both Mr. Chocolate and I wear contacts and I have worn glasses or some form of contacts since 1st grade.  But the idea of something more than just glasses was never a thought to me. Mr. Chocolate wore his eye patch for five years, from around age 5 to age 10, which honestly is a long time if you ask me. While the results are clearly worth it when I see the comparison with his father, it’s also a long time to wear something that’s conspicuous, odd looking, and obvious on one’s face as well. I marvel at how Mr. Chocolate was never teased for it for all the years he had it, and chalk it up to a sweeter time perhaps.

While we don’t have a formal diagnosis yet, I am currently looking for pediatric optometrists in the area so we can move forward. Part of me is hoping Mr. Chocolate is wrong, that the treatment for lazy eyes has changed, that Drake’s isn’t that severe and he won’t need a patch at all, or if he does the time period he uses it will be shorter than Mr. Chocolate’s… or a myriad of other things that seem more appealing in the long run. While I definitely want to help Drake fix the issue if there is one, I also admit to worrying about teasing or bullying and his self esteem.  Children just seem more cruel these days even if it’s just a perceived perception brought on by media stories.  I look at my sweet boy and just hope that this small difference wont make him stand out to be so different just as he enters the world of school, friends, and other things out of my control.