Happy new year!

I'm delighted to report ... nothing!

That's right, we had no reactions this entire holiday season. I was prepared, and bought an extra bottle of Benadryl a couple of weeks ago, just so that I had it in the house. Maybe it was my good luck charm because we didn't need it at all.

Andrew's gotten amazing about handling his allergies. He asks clearly if something is safe, and if it's not, he simply moves onto the next thing that's safe. (This year, it was yummy chocolate sprinkle cookies which I love too!)


He's been a very picky eater as well, but this season I also had some luck in getting him to try new things -- and he's loved them and asked for more.

We're going to start implementing a one-bite rule for the kids' meals. If we have a new (safe-for-them) food, they have to try at least one bite before they declare that they don't like it.

I did have some goat's milk cheese for our New Year's Eve party, and asked them if they wanted to try it (hey, I've got a full bottle of Benadryl on the counter), but I had no takers and I didn't want to push it. Goat's milk proteins are slightly different from cow's milk proteins, but still about half of the kids who are allergic to cow's milk also react to goat's milk.

Andrew actually looked at me like I was crazy for offering it to me. Then he said, "I won't try it until my doctor says it's okay." Wow, that's one amazingly self-controlled kid.

And finally, I want to apologize to the nice folks at id4udesigns. They custom-made a gorgeous medical ID allergy bracelet for Andrew last year, and I've totally forgotten to review their final product on this blog, due to my blogging break.

It looks a lot like this one.


Andrew chose green stones instead of the black ones in the photo, and has worn the bracelet everywhere in the last year. I'm happy with it because the information is all there if he gets separated from us in a crowd. And he's happy with it because it's a fun piece of jewellery that doesn't get in his way or make him stand out from the other kids. (The folks who made the silicone allergy bracelets from a previous post have gone out of business, so it's nice to be able to recommend this replacement source.)

I'd take a photo of it but it's currently lost in his room, under the piles of Lego that he received for Christmas this year.