Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Sweet Scent

Today, while packing my bag for the gym, I went on the hunt for some shampoo.  I'd been using a travel size bottle that I tossed the other day, but didn't replace in the interim.  I thought I might have a small bottle of J & J baby shampoo in the Babe's bathroom that was never used.  Instead, I found an 8 oz bottle of baby shampoo and body wash that we had gotten as part of a baby gift for the Babe.  It was made by an upscale soap company that makes more organic products.  However, due to the Babe's eczema, anything with scent was never used.  It had just been sitting in the bathroom, unused.  Yes, a couple years old, but still good.  So I took it with me. 

Here's what got me pondering.  It smelled lovely...for me.  A grown up with no known sensitivities.  However, I could not imagine bathing an infant in such heavily scented soap.  Babies smell sweet enough without any added fragrance, and why add perfume to something so fresh and delicate?  Yes, the smell of most baby soaps are sweet.  However, this specially formulated shampoo/body wash had honeysuckle, geranium, and orange amongst the ingredients, and was actually almost over-powering for my senses.  Despite being organic, what is wrong with just plain old soap?  In the end, I now have shampoo in my gym bag that smells lovely, will last a long time, and I didn't have to spend a dime.  And I'll smell fresh as a baby, or rather, a very perfumey flower.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Brrrrr

Its good to plan for a rainy day, or in today's case, a frigid day.  Today would have been the Babe's second kiddie gym class.  However, after getting her into snow pants and boots, the phone rang.  As the windshield had reached -11 degrees...yes, that is negative eleven degrees, they cancelled today's class.  When I broke the news to the Babe, her face fell, and she immediately burst into tears.  I was dreading taking her out into the cold, so I was happy they made the call, but felt bad for the Babe who was so looking forward to playing with the other kids. 

Did I have a back-up plan for this?  No, but I quickly offered to do a craft project.  She likes to glue (glue stick and construction paper that I cut into shapes).  Not my favorite thing, but I immediately offered that up to her.  I also had bought a while ago a safety scissor, and figured today was a good day to bring that out.  Once the tears were dried, she jumped right into it, thrilled to be using a scissors for the first time.  She cut lines all along the edges of the paper, then ripped off chunks for me to glue.  After we finished, we watched a little t.v., and then went up to play in her room.  The second bonus for her today was a reserved holiday gift.  She had gotten so much this year that we held an item back.  It was a box with a few wooden learning toys.  Out that came, and she was thrilled.  I suspect this is going to be a long winter, so I better have a few "surprises" or activities planned for those future snowy, rainy, windy, or frigid days. 

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Squirrelly

"I'm outta here....PEACE!"  Not the typical words from a three year old, at least probably not in our neighborhood.  Courtesy of her funny Daddy, the Babe has picked this up, and uses it when she's leaving a room (thankfully not all the time).  When the three of us are in the car backing up out of the driveway, she'll also say, "Bye-Bye House!"  then blow a kiss, and emphatically state, "Peace".  She is a sponge, so you better watch out what you say.  Thankfully, this didn't take effect when I was still in my driving and swearing phase (which probably lasted for me from age 22-34ish).

In other news, the Babe has a squirrel in her throat.  Not a frog, but a squirrel.  Tonight during dinner she started choking on something and grabbed her throat.  We immediately froze, not knowing if she was just coughing on her food or reacting.  I tried to remain calm, and asked if it was the squirrel.  Sure enough, it came for a visit.  Apparently mashed potatoes and potato chips make the squirrel go away. 

Friday, January 13, 2012

Clean Hands

How often do you wash your hands?  For me, too frequently to count.  Besides after using the bathroom, after eating, during and after food preparation, coming in from outside, etc. etc.  No, I do not have an obsessive compulsive condition.  I just wash my hands... a lot.

When I first started working my freshman year in college, I worked in a hospital.  My father was on immunosuppressants, so I never wanted to bring anything contagious into the house.  Hence, every time I walked in the house, I would go to wash my hands.  For the most part, I still do that, but now its in case I touched something the Allergy Babe may be allergic to.  When I handle meat, I wash my hands numerous times so as not to spread any bacteria if the food prep involves going from counter to stove back to counter.  As I still assist the Babe in the bathroom, I'm washing my hands then too.  Its probably better I don't know how often I wash my hands in a day... I might just become obsessed!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Run, Jump, Play

Am I a "helicopter parent"?  I definitely hover.  I'm overprotective.  But please, go play.  Be with other kids.  Run, jump, swing.  Oh, but don't touch anything.  How confusing is that?

Today we had our first kiddie gym class.  I had to let go for a half hour.  By letting go, it wasn't me walking away while she got to play.  It was me worrying about what she might come in contact with. 

The class was held in a dance studio where no food is allowed.  However, there were lots of kids who came from the nearby childcare center who probably only just had breakfast.  Did they all wash after they ate?  Was there any food residue left on their clothes?  Luckily, today there was no contact involved in the program.  That didn't mean I didn't sit there trying to control my blood pressure while I observed through the glass.  I had to remind myself she was safe and having fun.  She sat in a line with the other kids listening to the teachers, then ran and jumped around with them too.  I loved watching her be a normal little kid.  Afterwards, she told me how much fun she had.  We're home now, and she's fine.  I'm fine, too.  Looks like we'll be returning next week. 

Monday, January 9, 2012

Contact Reaction

While I find the following question annoying, I can now answer it.  When I explain the Babe's allergies, I always get asked, if she is "contact" allergic.  Meaning, if she somehow comes into skin contact with one of her allergens, will she react?  The answer is YES. 

How did we learn this?  Well, since we take as many precautions as possible to not expose her to her allergens, it wasn't an obvious thing until today.  After being away from the gym and Kiddie Korral during the holiday break, we returned for the first time today.  It was unavailable to us for three weeks while they hosted kids who were on winter school breaks.  I do not know if anyone even used any of the equipment that she uses.  However, this morning when I went to pick her up, she was seated at a kiddie table coloring with an adult.  She was rubbing an eye, but that could have been anything.  We rinsed her eye, and headed home.  After washing her hands, she sat at the kitchen table to have a snack and started to rub her left wrist against the table.  Clearly it was bothering her.  I took a look, and she had several hives over about a two square inch area.  My guess is that while coloring with her right hand, she propped her left wrist against the kiddie table and was against some residue of one of her allergens.  It took about twenty minutes for the hives to go down, but then she was itchy all over.  Put her in the shower, and so far, so good.  However, this means I will be on hive watch the rest of the day.  If you couldn't guess, living with food allergies is not fun. 

Read Everything

I should practice what I preach.  Read everything.  Its so easy to think you know it all, or become overly familiar with a product that you grab it without thinking.  In our world of food allergies, that is very dangerous.  I screwed up a few days ago, but caught it during the cooking stage.  It was 2 years, 6 months, and 2 days into living with my child's food allergies, and the first time I accidentally cooked with something that had dairy in it.  Lets just say I was devastated. 

I do read food labels.  I also look for stamps on the labels called hechshers, indicating the food item is kosher, and approved by a rabbinic group that monitors the manufacturing process.  It makes it a little easier, because if something has dairy in it, besides having to be marked on the general ingredients label, the hechsher would usually identify with the letter d or by stating dairy.  While I keep kosher, I don't always buy items with a hechsher if the ingredient list is clear that there is nothing non-kosher in it. 

Here is what I did.  I bought tomato paste and added some to turkey meatballs I was making.  After browning the meatballs, and putting them in the oven, I began to clean up.  Luckily, I turned the can of paste around and was surprised by the long ingredient list.  I should have caught this at the grocery store.  The store where I purchased it has the paste in bins, so either they were jumbled together or I didn't see the separate bins.  Can you spot the difference on these two cans?

The cans are almost identical.  Same size, same colors on the labels.  And yes, I must ask, who puts dairy in tomato paste?  The first product's ingredient list is....tomatoes.  That's it.  It does have a hechsher.  The second is a long list.  [It doesn't have a hechsher.]  And some Italian food items will have a double label showing off in two languages what the item is.  Hence, my not catching the Tomato Pesto.  Had I read the back, it was clearly marked that it contained milk. 
All in all, its my own fault.  Thankfully it was caught in time.  It serves as a reminder that I must read, read, read.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Hello World!

I do not watch the show, "Toddler and Tiaras", for many reasons.  However, yesterday I suspect my child could have been a contestant.  Not because she or I were behaving badly. 

We had gone to a very large grocery store in our area with my husband.  When we got out of the car, the Babe insisted on wearing her sunglasses into the store.  No, not Jackie O glasses, but lavender with rhinestones.  She took them off once inside the store, just up until we finished paying for our groceries.  My husband walked ahead of me while holding the Babe's hand as I pushed the cart.  Imagine a little girl wearing those purple sunglasses, a bright pink top, rainbow pants, and a very bright purple and pink bear backpack, doing a pageant wave throughout the long walk out of the store.  It wasn't so much a pageant wave, but she just kept waving.  Even when there weren't any people nearby.  I was very happy it was my husband walking with her.  I was just a tad embarrassed, although laughing at the same time.  People did wave back, so she must have something going on there.  However, I'm not signing her up with an agent any time soon.  The only crown in my Little Miss' future will be the one we bought for $2 at Target!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Riding in Cars

If you can't see something, its very easy to forget its there.  In my case, child safety locks on cars.  Our older car has had them engaged for a while, and ever since we got the new car the backseat safety locks are on.  Yesterday we went to Barnes and Noble.  I got into the backseat to unbuckle the Babe and get her coat on.  [She refuses to wear her coat while in the car.]  There was an empty parking space next to me, and it was cold.  I thought I was doing the smart, responsible thing by closing the door while I assisted her.  Oops.  I completely forgot and I locked us in. 

I had three options.  First, looks like the idiot that I felt I was and wave someone down to open the door for me.  Second, climb over the seats and risk ruining the leather with my shoes, so I could exit out of the front.  Or, option three, reach over the front seat, turn on the car, roll down the window, and be thankful that the back seat windows go all the way down so I could reach out and open the car door from outside.  I chose option three.  Good thing I can problem solve, or else I might have resorted to phoning my husband to come get us out, and I can live without what he might have said in response to our predicament (or the ensuing laughter).

Routine

This is my 201st post on this blog.  I had no idea that I would continue writing about life with my food-allergic child.  This has become a journal, baby book, recipe log, and place for my general commentary.  Obviously I don't reveal all about our lives or my thought process, but its fun for me to scroll back and remind myself of various moments we've experienced (good and bad).

This morning I'm up before the Babe, so figured I have a few moments to post.  Once upon a time, I woke much earlier to get to a job outside the home.  That was also before the Babe came along.  I would get up at 5:30 a.m., shower, dress, catch a train, so I could be in downtown Chicago before 8:00 a.m.  Many days it was dark before I left my home.  Most of my clothes went to the dry cleaner and I never went to work without some makeup on.  Somehow I did that for several years.  And those days I never went to bed before 10 pm unless I was sick, most times not till 11 or 12.  Now, if I'm up in the dark its either because I never fell asleep or the Babe woke me in the middle of the night.  Getting up before 8am without requiring fifteen minutes to open my eyes first is an extreme challenge.  Then again, I am regularly up for at least a half hour around 2:30 a.m., sometime several hours more.  Forget make-up, forget dry-clean only.  Jeans are the uniform, and why bother with make-up because the Babe loves me just the way I am (I hope).

These days my routine revolves around making sure the Babe is fed and our kitchen is stocked.  My days are more interesting when we have some sort of schedule, but our day starts off with a juice box and PBS.  There is no rush to get dressed (although my goal is before 10) except on days we go to the gym.  Eventually this will change.  For now, I have remind myself to live in the moment because time really does go so fast.  And now, time to wake up the Babe.