Eye exam coming up

It's been nearly a year and a half since Munchkin's last two surgeries (a cryo and laser in April 2010 and a vitrectomy in May 2010). We have an eye exam coming up towards the end of the month. And already, the dread is starting to build. Why? Because we've never gone so long without surgery ever since his condition was diagnosed back in July 2007. He's nine now (tenth birthday coming up in Jan) and the doctor has said that there is a possibility of the disease stabilizing as a child grows older. Coats invariably tends to throw up 'side-effects' like cataracts (that's what the vitrectomy was for - a thin film had formed over his retina, creating 'macular pucker').
And he positively hates the thought of going through another round of laser - he says he hates having to be hungry for so long, gets scared of 'falling asleep' and hates the smell of the anesthesia. What's worse, he surfaces from the anesthesia rather badly, usually kicking and screaming, literally. When he was little, I would scoop him up and try to calm him down. Last year, I realized I could no longer do this.
His mid-term vacation begins on the 24th. We have a mom-and-son holiday lined up at the beach for 4 days. The 'practical' person that I am, I figure he can still have the laser and get back to school in time even after the holiday. I've lost count of the number of holidays I've planned for us and then not made reservations because we had an eye exam coming up and what if he needed cryo and laser... well, no more. I want nothing more than for this disease to have stabilized and get another four-month breather. Please pray for my little munchkin!

Summer camp search begins

It's that time of the year. The little brat's summer holidays are going to start beginning Good Friday (March 21). And school starts on June 2! So during this l-o-n-g break, what can you do with a hyperactive six-year-old that will keep said child from:
1. driving parents & grandparents insane
2. getting into falling-and-getting-hurt kind of trouble
3. turning into TV/Video/Online game junkie
4. forgetting everything he learnt in Kindergarten (including math tables up to 5)

The answer? Summer camps, of course. In Bangalore, most of them last only 3 weeks at a stretch. I guess organizers of summer camps need time off, too, right? And this isn't the first world, where you can pack of a child for 6 or 8 weeks and sit back and relax.

Last year's summer camp was a disaster. They overcharged, didn't do as much as they promised and he hated going there. Problem was, most sports camps (baskeball, badminton, swimming, etc.) would take children only above the age of six. So he managed to learn swimming with his dad and grandfather. But he's been out of practice since then. And the way the weather is: cold at 10 am and blazing hot at 11 am...I doubt we'll be able to use the pool.

I've found one intensive arts program for him. This is run by a reputed artiste and the place is not so far from our house. They also have a transport facility which means no dropping and picking up required. (Yay!) We're going there tomorrow to check it out. The only thing is, it runs even on weekend mornings. I'm not sure whether that's good or bad. We'll see the place and decide soon. There's also a school nearby which is reportedly holds some good sports camps. Need to go there too.


Picture from Freerangestock