Star Pupil

Al went to opticians today and they gave him drops to dilate his pupils. They looked scarily huge! They told me that his eyesight has improved so much in his worst eye, that he can no longer be considered to have a 'lazy eye' any more, which is a relief. He is still long sighted though, so needs glasses, but that's okay. The optician told me some interesting stuff though - she said Al may have been struggling with refocussing between long and short distances, which might explain why his reading can be slow. She has also said that now bit eyes have similar prescriptions he can be tested to see if coloured overlays might help his dyslexia. Betsy's friend has recently got them and has described them as 'totally brilliant'. I'm not sure they will help Al as he doesn't seem to see letters moving or undulating, but of course it is worth ruling out at least.

The children both went on sleepovers tonight. Betsy to her friends Amy's 10th birthday sleepover, starting with bowling. I dropped her off at Amy's house and the other two girls were there, and I was reassured to hear that aren't too old for shrieking and charging about. Al has gone to my brother Jeremy's. He was so excited. He loves spending time with his three Uncles, Jeremy, Tony and Keith (who is really only an Uncle in name, but loved and adored as much as if he was born or married into it like the other two).

We went to the pub, but ended up getting a call from Amy's mum. Betsy was all tearful and sad, and missing home. So we went to pick her up at 9 o'clock - don't know what, if anything, was wrong. Perhaps she just remembered that's she's only 10 and it's okay to get homesick sometimes. Picked her up, came home, she flaked out, we opened a bottle of red, ordered a huge curry and watched X Factor, and moaned like a middle aged couple all the way through. Great fun!