Less...I mean, More on My Plate

Every kid comes with their own set of gifts and challenges. With Aidan the challenge was the food allergies. Although he's been outgrowing them over the years, at one point he was allergic to peanuts, eggs, soy, dairy, corn, wheat, gluten, peas, fish and tree nuts. I often weigh what we are going through with Rowan against the allergy experience for a little perspective. Indeed, there are months of Aidan's itchy little babyhood that I don't even remember. Just a blur of sleepless nights, stress and a similar feeling of "How will I manage this?" I remember feeling helpless and coming up against a huge lack of resources.  Strangely familiar.

Nowadays you can't throw an epi-pen without hitting a kid with a peanut allergy.  We kind of felt like we were at the beginning of the wave of the childhood food allergy epidemic. I kind of feel like we might be there with sensory processing disorder too. My kids are such groundbreakers, aren't they? Makes a Mom proud.

Anyway, I digress. Today we were given the wonderful and amazing news that Aidan seems to have outgrown his dairy allergy. That leaves us with only peanuts and cashews to avoid. Today Aidan underwent a food challenge, which basically involves sitting in the allergist's office for hours while trying a tiny bits of the offending food, with 20 minutes in between each taste, increasing the amount each time. Aidan did great and seems to have tolerated it well. He drank about 4 ounces of milk with no reaction!

Needless to say, we are so excited! No more soy, rice, almond, or hemp milk. No more fake ice cream, butter, or cheese. No more altering recipes, reading labels. Going out to eat will be easier and much less scary. I won't have to stash special treats for Aidan at school for birthday parties. It will be like a whole new world!  Nonnie already wants to buy him his first ice cream cone at Frosty's in Longville. I can't wait to go to Sammy's Pizza or the Portland Malt Shop! It will be so nice to have one less thing to worry about...and more to offer Aidan.

The news didn't really sink in with him until we got home today. I was listing off a bunch of things he could now have. The thing that really got him was eating french toast with the other kids for hot lunch at school. His little light bulb went off, and he started jumping around and whooping with excitement.

With this news, I received so much of what I needed:  lower grocery bill, less food stress, and just the right kind of perspective.  It is nice to look back at that stress from right after Aidan's tests came back positive, now breathing with a big sigh of relief.  Whew!  We made it.