Have you heard of the Teal Pumpkin Project? The idea is that you paint a pumpkin teal (the food allergy awareness color) and display it outside your house on Halloween. You can also print up a sign to display with the pumpkin. The teal pumpkin tells people with food allergies that you have non-food treats Read More …
To be honest, I’ve never worried very much about trick-or-treating. Dressing up in a fun costume and racing from house to house is fun in and of itself, regardless of whether you can eat all the candy once you get home. Yes, my kids always receive some items that they can’t eat, but (nearly) everything Read More …
Click here for part 1 of Kal’s story The day of Kal’s peanut challenge in April finally arrived, and Kal had miraculously remained healthy for more than a week prior to the test. Zax even had an extended school day so we didn’t have to pick him up in the middle of the test, which Read More …
When Zax was a baby, the prevailing infant feeding advice was to delay introduction of highly allergenic foods. However, by the time Kal joined our family in June 2011, I’d seen a lot more advice suggesting that allergenic foods should be introduced earlier to lower the baby’s chances of developing allergies. I asked our allergist Read More …
A month ago, my husband’s brother got married to a wonderful woman. It was a beautiful ceremony, and in our family, one of the most exciting parts was our children being ring bearers for their uncle and new aunt. This was only the second wedding we’ve been invited to since having children, and the first Read More …
Click here for part 1 of Zax’s story At 3 ½, Zax was getting ready to go to preschool, and I decided it was time for us to know more. Specifically, I wanted to know two things: Could he tolerate egg in baked items? (Many egg-allergic people can.) Was he really allergic to peanut? Read More …
Zax came into our lives in October of 2008. He was a wonderful baby and, apart from a bit of eczema, was pretty healthy. Because of my own allergies (and particularly having heard the story of my own first experience with egg) we were very cautious about introducing new foods to him. We introduced one Read More …
One of the most intrinsic parts of the preschool day is snack time. For the last two years, the kids at Zax’s preschool took turns being “Snack Kid” and bringing a snack to share. They loved being the “special kid” for the day, telling everybody what they’d brought, and sharing some of their favorite foods Read More …
Click here for part 1 of my allergic history, birth to age 4. Click here for part 2 of my allergic history, up to age 6. So by age 6, I’d actually been tested for allergies, and my allergies and asthma were coming under better control. Time went on, and we muddled through. At some Read More …
Click here for part 1 of my allergic history. By this point, I had made it to 4 years old, and my allergies to tree nuts solidified. The next few years of my life were a whirlwind learning adventure for my family. They trained me to ask whether food had nuts in it, and I Read More …