Part 1 is here.


Before my daughter's eye surgery to correct crossed eyes, I was told not to worry because the eyeballs wouldn't be removed from her eye sockets. I hadn't even thought about this. So now I was freaked. You aren't going to pull her eyeballs from the sockets.... WHAT EXACTLY are you going to be doing?


They moved the muscle attachment on both eyes.


After surgery here is what she looked like. She had bruises under her eyes from the clamps that held her eyes open. There aren't many nerves in the eye, so she just needed Tylenol for a couple of days.. and only because of the bruises from the clamps.


I took Natasha back to child care (a preschool environment) the day after her surgery. She pretty much demanded it. She wanted to play with some of her friends. My most frequently used phrase during this year of her life was, "You get what you get and you don't have a fit."


But in this instance, I went ahead and called her doctor. He said there wasn't a medical reason to keep her home. So back she went.


About 5 months later I sat her down with paint. Much of her frustration with painting and drawing disappeared when her crossed eyes were fixed.


I asked her to paint, "how did it feel to have broken eyes". This was Natasha's term for her eyes before the surgery. And I asked her to paint, "how does it feel to have fixed eyes".


Then I asked her to tell me a story about both paintings.


Art is so powerful.


Here is what my 4 year old child said about her broken eyes painting. She titled this painting, "Broken Eyes".

Sad... slept in crib... little nose, arms..... broken eyes...


This is Natasha. I am strong girl. I'm using lots of blue. I draw two eyes, nose and sad mouth.

Sad face...

At bedtime I would let Natasha pick which story I told her. She could pick between "Once upon a time" and "Once upon a time... true story".


Also you need to know that Natasha's first name was Natalya (Natalie). Natasha is a nickname for Natalya and everyone called her Natasha. So I kept my daughter's nickname as her first name. But I still call her Natalya or Natashenka (another nickname).


Here is what Natasha told me about her "fixed eyes" painting. She decided to title this picture, "This is a bird named Natasha".

Once upon a time.. true story


There was a little girl named Natalya with broken eyes. She went to hospital and got her eyes fixed. Doctor said you don't need glasses.


This picture is Natasha with fixed eyes. Natasha is bird on left [side of the painting]. Christmas tree is there [right side on painting] and in blue.

It is amazing just how much can be communicated through art.


Recently Natasha has been thinking about entering the Joint Council on International Children's Services (JCICS) art contest.


They are looking for children ages 13 and younger who have been touched by International Adoption and want to show off their imagination.


More information on the contest can be found here.

Crossed Eyes and Art
Part 1
Part 2