Oh this little boy of ours is full of spunk, life and love. Quick side note, he's in a phase where I tell him "I love you" and he gets the sweetest pouty face, leans in and says "no,...I love you too!" He gets upset if I repeat "I love you" and he goes back to his original statement. This banter continues until I finally let him win; he insists on being the last to say "I love you".
Oh, someday he'll make such a lovely husband :)
We are now 1 year into food allergy living, so I thought it was time to re-cap a bit of where life sits for us. He remains allergic to dairy, egg, peanut and (because of a hives reaction to pine nuts), we avoid all tree nuts as well. Although he is anaphylactic allergic to all of the above, we have been beyond thankful that we have never had to use his Epi-pen. knock on wood! There was one instance where I debated it, and was ready, but his single symptom improved with Benadryl. Talk about relief. The rule is epi him with 2 of the 3 symptoms or if in doubt (hives, vomiting or trouble breathing). Using the Epi unnecessarily will not hurt him; but not using it could.
We read labels like you would not believe. A typical grocery run used to take us double the amount of time because we had to read every single item. The reading part hasn't changed, but in general, we now eat much more fruit, veggies and meat (everyone but me) so there aren't nearly as many labels to read! Lincoln's favorite foods are fruit so he doesn't eat much in terms of processed foods. It's healthy, but not terribly convinent when there is a smashed banana at the bottom of a diaper bag! We buy him special dairy free cheese, hemp milk and foods like oreos that surprise all of us to be dairy free. I found dairy free dilly bar lookalikes too.
We might have the BEST friends supporting us and him as we navigate these waters. It's no secret that we entertain a lot, especially in the summer, and we certainly don't expect anyone to cater to his needs (it's hard enough for us!). I was in tears the first time a friend text me a picture of a package with a "can Lincoln eat this?" question. How sweet, I kept thinking, that someone else cares enough to want him to feel included. Fast forward a couple of weeks and another friend sends me a picture with a question "if I use this, can Lincoln eat it?". And then there's my dear friend who, while out grocery shopping, noticed VeganEgg and immediately text me to ask if I've ever heard of it.
Talk about some superb friends.
Does it suck to have a young child with food allergies? Yep. And it's scary as hell. His Epi-pens come with us everywhere. We've purchased a special pouch to help keep them room temperature in the extreme heat while we venture out and about this summer. It's a hassle to eat out, it takes a lot of research, and most of the time, we forego eating out because it's simply too much work. Ryan and I went on a date recently and I jumped at the opportunity to eat at a place where Lincoln can't go. Still makes me sad. The girls are mostly annoyed. But they understand it's for his own safety and it makes them just as sad knowing he is missing out on things they love to eat.
Do we dwell on it? Nope. Because there's no point. We are amazed at how well he knows his own allergies at just 2.5 years. Everyday I pick him up, he races over to the 'snack at the door' and asks if he can have one. His common statement is "milk in it?, cheese in it?" (they are a nut free environment). Today when I picked him up from school (daycare), there was a 'snack at the door' of saltine crackers. This time, he grabbed a package and instead of asking me, he stood staring at the words as though he was reading it, checking for safety. That made me laugh. He understands his allergies and that makes me happy. I suspect he has a 6th sense about items because sometimes, he'll take 1 bite and complain it's got milk in it. I'll be honest, knowing what I do about FDA labeling and cross contamination (it's not required to label for shared lines), I trust his instincts and we never force him to eat anything.
We head back to visit his allergist this fall when he will get re-tested and (cross your fingers) the numbers go down and we can start food challenges!
In the meantime, we will love him, teach him and work hard at never needing to use those Epi-pens!
