It's summer time! Moms of young kids, how are we doing? Has your brain exploded yet? Have your souls begun to whither? I am REALLY hoping we find our stride soon, because we are less than a week into Jack's summer and it is not going well. I remember this happening last summer too. Jack thrives having school to go to every day. Friends to see, routine to follow, a break from mom, all that good stuff. The longer we get into summer, the clingier he gets. Kinda weird--you'd think it would be the opposite and he'd want a break from me, but it's like he forgets how to not be glued to my side every second of the day. So while we normally do an 80-90 minute quiet time before Jack's preschool each morning while Alice naps, he has had the hardest time keeping his distance during that quiet time since school got out. Trying my best to lean into it and remember that all too soon he will want no part of being glued to my side.
Jack has been playing with a neighbor friend quite a bit recently, but even though this kid is only 4 and mostly has a smile on his face, we've discovered he's actually pretty mean (not just to Jack but to his little sister and mom) and uses some really rough language. Unfortunately we've noticed a marked difference in Jack's usually cheery, kind attitude so we've decided to try and pump the breaks a bit on how much time Jack spends with this kid. Tough beans for me, since their time playing together was going to be my primary means of catching a break this summer. Luckily we have swimming lessons next week and then we'll be in Utah for a bit. After Utah we're going to try and put him in a little sports camp to keep him busy and happy. Yay parenting.
^^We're getting a reading corner set up downstairs. I love it and have been trying to encourage more reading time. Jack is getting pretty good at reading, but I'm not sure it's going to be his "thing" like it is for some kids. I don't know, I could see it going either way. On the one hand, he has a great imagination and I could see him enjoying getting swept up in book worlds. On the other hand, it's pretty hard for anything to compete with the more physical activities for him. I tried to implement a reading time one afternoon this week and he spent the whole time crying that he just wanted me to play football with him in the backyard.
^^Preschool graduation! I spent a good amount of time crying this day. We really lucked out having such a wonderful preschool at a reasonable cost just 5 minutes from our house. Jack has attended this preschool basically as far back as he can remember now. His teachers--Miss Michelle and Miss Deborah--have really been my village here. They were wonderful in every way and I'll miss their influence in Jack's life. Wish he could go to Cascade Preschool for another 10 years.
There are some updates in food allergy land too. I don't remember if I posted this last week, but she got bad hives in response to both beef and tomatoes, so those are out until I can get her back into her allergist for further testing and instruction. Over the weekend I was really excited to start her on the dairy ladder now that she's 9 months old! Basically this involves having her try dairy baked into a muffin or a biscuit for a few days, and if no issues there you can go up a step to cheese, then up to yogurt, then up to milk. I had high hopes. I kind of thought/hoped that her dairy issues I noticed early in her life were more of a gut type of sensitivity that would go away after 6 months as her gut matured. Unfortunately, her response to the biscuit was pretty bad--some of her worst hives yet, and seemed like tummy pain too. All the other ingredients in the biscuit she had tried before with no issue, so it was definitely the milk.
I'm sad for me as I continue keeping dairy out of my diet probably until we're done breastfeeding, but I'm more sad for her and the possibility of dairy being another serious allergy. There's still a much higher instance of babies outgrowing dairy allergies than peanut allergies, so I'm feeling hopeful and we'll try again in another 3-6 months. We'll definitely have the allergist test her and get more instruction then. In the meantime, I'm backing off on milk but I'll attempt her on step one of the soy ladder next week and am hoping for better results there. Sigh.
I know there are worse medical issues that babies have and I'm grateful my kiddos have mostly been very healthy. These allergies do make me feel sad for Alice, and also angry about the times I've seen adults roll their eyes in response to food sensitivities/allergies, as if the person is making it up or being dramatic. I assure you they are not--they would much rather not have to deal with the hassle and/or fear around having a food sensitivity/allergy. Also, for so many people (Alice included) the ramifications of a food allergy are life-and-death serious. More compassion. Less eye rolls. Plz and thx.
On the plus side, we gave Alice a soy-free dairy-free brownie last night (bless you Duncan Hines for the inexpensive box mixes that are free of dairy and soy) and she handled it fine! Chocolate is a surprisingly common allergen in kids so I'm grateful for this win. Wish me luck getting through another week of summer! I'm feeling cautiously optimistic we'll all have fun and the meltdowns will be few!