Yep, I'm angry, not sleepy, mama cat this week. Last Friday my son's preschool had its Valentine's Day party. I get anxious about these sort of things anyway because I know there's a ton of food, candy and chaos which is not a good mix when someone there has multiple food allergies like my son. However, to add to the anxiety, I found out that the teacher was going to be away that day to help her daughter out with her new baby. I'm not blaming her in any way for not being at school that day. However, it made a bad situation worse because the person in charge, the teacher's assistant is not that educated about food allergies. In addition, the substitute was completely new, not the usual one there, and she had no clue about my son's allergies. Obviously, I left the classroom that day feeling very concerned but didn't feel right dragging my son out of there either.
When I picked him up later that morning I felt some relief as the teacher's assistant handed me a Ziploc bag full of candy and valentines. She only put the candy-free valentines in his box so I could separate the candy at home before Joshua would be exposed to it. On the car ride home I talked to my son about the party and asked about food consumed, etc. He assured me that he only ate the cupcake and candy I had packed for him. So, I felt some of my anxiety melting away and started thinking about the weekend.
Later that afternoon, I found him in the family room with his pant legs hoisted up as he was scratching his red, bumpy, inflamed legs. His skin had been perfectly clear that a.m. so I knew that this was a new reaction. Again I interrogated him about what he'd eaten at the party that day and, again, he assured me he hadn't eaten anything he shouldn't have. I chalked it all up to poor hand-washing practices at the school. The other kids must have eaten something with allergens, not washed their hands and then spread it all over the toys and surfaces before my son played with them.
He continued to suffer through the weekend, constantly scratching. Yesterday morning he presented my husband and I with a homemade valentine and a gift bag - something he made in school. It had a cute little poem on the outside that the teachers had printed up and inside were some red hearts he had cut out and kissed for us. In addition, there were three Hershey's Kisses. Cue up the anxious music here. I asked who had put the chocolate in there. He told me he did. I asked when, he told me Friday. Mystery solved. As everyone who's ever opened a bag of Hershey Kisses before knows, there's always at least one candy unwrapped from the foil. Therefore, any wrapped candies are likely to get small traces of chocolate on them. This chocolate has dairy in it as well as soy. In addition, there's the possibility of cross-contamination with the Kisses that have peanut butter in them. Obviously, my son has never had any such thing. Here's what I picture happened. My son handled the candies and maybe got some trace ingredients on his fingers. Then (gross out factor coming up), since he has a cold, he probably swiped the mucus running out of his nose and popped that finger in his mouth. All of this would happen in a matter of seconds as he's learned to move faster with his finger than a mommy can get to a tissue.
School was closed today and I was unable to discuss this all with the director. However, it seems to me that it should be common sense that a boy with all of his allergies should not be handling any such product. It wouldn't have been so hard for the teacher to put those Kisses in herself and wouldn't have affected the gift one bit. I kept the red hearts he kissed for me but I did throw those Kisses right in the garbage. I know that his life is going to be filled with battles like these unless he outgrows his allergies. However, it just makes me feel very sad that we have to worry about every little detail like this. I hope that kindergarten is better next year when the public school by law will have to accommodate his needs. I'm not by any means suggesting that the candy shouldn't have been in the classroom. However, he should not have been touching it.
In other news, we have his first appointment with an occupational therapist tomorrow to evaluate his fine motor skills. I'll let you know how that goes.
As for me, I experienced some nice weight loss last week and reached the goal I had set for myself for the beginning of March. I attribute that to decreased calorie intake (I average about 1550 a day now as opposed to the 1750 at the start of this diet) and increased physical activity. However, I'm not sure if this number is going to hold as I really overindulged on Sunday when we went to a Thai restaurant. I ate half a duck. Yep, you read that right. Half a duck - at least 1000 calories and that doesn't include the coconut milk-based soup I had before that. At home, I had a nice glass of mead while my husband and I watched a movie. I'm back on track today so, hopefully, I won't see too much of a weight gain this week.
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