Happenings

Let's see.... So much going on, so little time to blog about it.

First off, we had a scare with Evyn recently. She is allergic to peanuts and Reed is not. Reed loves PB&J everyday for lunch. I have a system with wiping him down, assuring they do not swap cups, no contact during the meal and seat them as far apart at the table as I can. This has worked fine for the last 10 months or so. Until last Friday.....

I was having one of those drained, kids are on my last nerve days. Reed left the table, was wiped down as usual. He came back wanting another sandwich, so I made him one. He ate it and literally ran away when he was done. I foolishly did not chase him down to wipe him off. He apparently got some of the peanut butter from his face onto Evy's cheek. I did not notice until her cheek was flaming red, a patch of hives. She then told me she was itchy so I investigated further to find a huge spot of hives on her back and one of her leg, all from a spot of peanut on her face butter that I could not even see. The only thing I saw on her cheek was 2 tiny spots of jelly right in the middle of the hives. I did not have to use the EpiPen, only Benadryl, however, she was complaining of not being able to breathe deeply. Yikes! Since then, she has had a lesson on EpiPen use, having to call 9-1-1 and I found a cartoon online narrated by a peanut allergic child who talks about all of the things I had already told her. It is a great teaching tool and she has watched it several times.

She has not outgrown her peanut allergy and I am again coming to terms with the fact that there is a food out there that could potentially kill my child. We are going back to see the allergist with a long list of questions that have been running through my mind for the last almost three years and are going to order a medical ID bracelet since she is starting kindy in the fall and will be away from home most of the day. Most importantly, we are letting go of the hope that Evyn will outgrow her peanut allergy. Bummed!


In Reed news, he has taken another step towards being totally and completely potty trained. He has been diaper-free for six months but has been wearing a Pull-Up during sleep For the past three months, he has been napping without a Pull-Up and has now progressed to waking up dry in the morning. He has earned a sticker for every dry morning and has now collected 7 stickers - 4 of them the last four consecutive days. After buying diapers and now Pull-Ups for the last 5.5 years, we are thrilled with his progress, which has been completely on his terms, in his own tome frame. Yay Reed. Today he gets to pick a toy from the store of his choice, and he chose Wal-Mart of all places.

The last bit of kid news involves teacher conferences. Last Thursday I met with the kids' teachers to talk about the progress made during the last few months. I am pleased to say that Reed's teacher had positive things to say about him this time, although I anticipated quite the opposite. Mrs. D and I have had several talks over the last six months about how Reed will not always follow directions, does not really play with the other kids in his class and gets really angry when he is called down for certain behaviors. He has improved in all areas, so that was a pleasant surprise.

Evy's teacher said she is going to be a GREAT kindergartner - showed me a check list of skills that kids should have going into kindy and said that Evyn is displaying all of them. We have noticed big changes in her social comfort level this year and thinking about sending her to kindy in the fall does not involve the feeling of "throwing her to the wolves" like it did last year when we were trying to figure out if we should send her or not. Not that a tear or two will not be shed on that first day, but it will not be because I feel like she is not ready. Ms. M said that we had given her the gift of time to mature and be a kid, learning through her environment for a little longer, and it is always nice when someone validates your own feelings.

We had our annual Easter egg hunt on Saturday. I will be back hopefully soon to talk more about that and how cute Holly looked as the Easter Bunny.