More Allergies (sigh)

Last month, Nick ate a walnut and we ended up in the emergency room. Here is the link to that post: http://parkaysplace.blogspot.com/2012/02/er-trip-with-pickleagain.html

Tim and I were sure it was just a case of cross-contamination as the walnuts were processed in a plant that processes all tree nuts. To make sure of this, we set an appointment with his allergist to do a food challenge. A food challenge is where the patient goes to the allergist's office and under controlled and monitored conditions, eats the food in question, starting with a very small amount and continuing until a large amount of the food is consumed. After each portion the allergist or the assistant watches for a minute and then waits for awhile before giving another portion. A food challenge takes between 2 to 3 hours to be completed.

We had to provide walnuts that we knew were not contaminated at all. Thanks to Grandpa Dutson, we had 5 that were broken up. Around 9 am Nick was given a very small piece of walnut, about the size of his pinky nail or something. The doctor said it was a 1/32nd of a whole walnut, so pretty small. She left the room and not even 2 minutes later Nick said to me, "Mommy, my tongue hurts. My throw-up hurts." (FYI throw-up means throat). I told him to take a drink and he goes, "Mommy, I feel better." Then 10 seconds after that, "My throat hurts." I let the correct people know and in they came. The doctor, Dr. Cassall (who is phenomenal) checked his mouth and throat. It looked a little red. The assistant noticed his cheeks were red. Then he said his belly hurt. Nick got some medicine to help counter the reaction. Before it kicked in we noticed hived around his mouth. He was also making a weird swallowing motion with his head. Finally everything cleared up, he wasn't red anymore, nothing hurt and he was running and jumping all over again.

We were there a total of 1hr and 40 minutes. The diagnosis is: he can eat peanut butter (peanuts) and nutella since he has been eating those and been fine. He cannot eat any other types of nuts. He has to get some blood work done (the fun just never ends here) and then we'll know more. Now more than ever, we have to be so diligent in what he eats. He has already started understanding he can't eat certain things. When I was shelling the walnuts this morning he said to me, "I can't eat those. They make me sick." He didn't want to eat them at the doctor's either but I said, "It's OK, you'll be fine." Boy was I wrong! He wouldn't even eat the peanut M&M he found the other day because it had a peanut inside. However, so many things are processed in plants that also process tree nuts.

So now he is allergic to: walnuts, pecans, pistachios and cashews. He will not be trying pine nuts, macadamia nuts or brazil nuts. He will not eat almonds or coconut again either until after the blood work is back. What does he get to eat? Peanuts and hazelnuts. It could be worse though. It appears he has to actually ingest the nut for a reaction. So just being around it won't do anything. But we won't tempt fate, only peanut butter and nutella in our house from now on.

Potty Training

Monday was prep day. Tim ran errands with Pickle and at one stop Pickle got to pick his reward/treat for going potty in the toilet. I had called Tim to tell him this. He called me back a minute later saying, "I don't think it's going to be easy to train him" and told me this story:

"I told Pickle when we stopped at Target he was going to pick his treat as a reward for every time you go potty in the toilet. I told him he could pick whatever treat he wanted. He looked at me, pointed his finger and said, "I only want the treat!" 

When they got home I asked Pickle, "We're back from Uncle Ryan's house. Are you excited to learn to go potty in the toilet?"
"NO!" was his reply.

We had been telling him for a couple weeks that after we got back from Uncle Ryan's house, he would learn to go to potty in the toilet. I had been prepping him for awhile hoping that would help him get used to the idea. So after that exchange and story I went into potty training child #2 with the mindset it was going to be difficult and probably a battle of wills. I set myself up for having to clean up lots of accidents and that my patience would be tried. And once again I thought I was going to be eating a lot of my treats to reward my patience when accidents happen.

Tuesday morning came and I was somewhat dreading the idea of potty training him. I didn't have the energy to fight a 3 year old over the toilet and had thought about waiting for awhile. However, when I said, "Ok, let's get some underwear and take off your diaper" his response shocked me. He said, "Ok" and ran off to get his underwear. I was a bit stunned and figured I better get on his "potty chart". It's a piece of paper with a lot of little squares that he gets to put a sticker in every time he is successful in the bathroom. I was making that up and he was standing next me, underwear in hand, saying "Mommy, take my diaper off." I sat there thinking, "Who is this child? Where did he come from?"

So everything got set, he got in his underwear and now, he is potty trained! At least tinkle trained for sure. He's had 1 tinkle accident and nothing ever made it to the carpet. He woke up dry from naps and at night. Since he had done so well, we went out Wednesday to Pach's soccer camp to watch. Pickle was excited because he got to use the bathroom with the red towel. Hahahaha! Whatever works! We have been out a few times and he has done mostly well. We are still working on pooping but for someone who was so adamant about not learning how to use the toilet, he sure has done well. And I only got a couple rewards for myself. I did decide though, I'm pretty calm and good about accidents of any kind during potty training. I decided I needed rewards for everyday life instead. I might actually get to eat some of them!

On a side note: If you ever use a treat for a reward for going in the toilet, red vines are not a good idea. One or two a day is fine but 20 will definitely do things to them you don't want to deal with, especially when potty training! Go with chocolate!