Adding to Our List: Pecans

I was cooking supper and Witt sat on the couch. (I can see the couch from the kitchen.)  Surprisingly, he started screaming, 

"WHAT IS GOING ON? MY FACE IS ITCHING ALL OVER!!!!!"

As soon as I heard him scream, I grabbed the Benedryl from the cabinet, poured him some, and told him to come to me.  I asked him if he'd just eaten anything and he said, "Yes. Nuts."

I told him to take the Benedryl and he started crying. Shouting, "NO!" and then ran down the hall.  (He hates taking medicine.) I continued to talk to him in a very rushed voice and told him that he had to take it or the itching might get worse and we'd have to go to the hospital to get a shot.

He finally took it and within just a minute he said it was getting better. Small hives started creeping onto his face and I checked his torso. Thankfully there weren't any hives there. I asked about his throat and he said it felt fine. Then he asked what the bump was on his lip.

I asked him when he noticed it. If it had been there all day? He said he didn't know. I asked him if he just noticed it after eating the nuts and he said yes.  I asked about his tongue and he said it was all itchy, but was better now. 

I asked him about the nuts. Turns out he and Nathan were cracking and snacking on pecans. I asked how many he'd eaten and he said, "About four".

I was a little surprised because he's had pecans plenty of times, even recently. Plus, pecans were negatives on both his skin test and blood test.   

Once I was sure the Benedryl was working, I snapped the pictures so I could show Jeff when he got home.  That poor bottom lip.  :( 

I am so glad he was able to tell me what the problem was and I could get the Benedryl in him as quickly as I did.  I've seen pictures of MUCH worse.  

Today, I call the doctor and ask for an epi-pen prescription. 

Skin Test 2013

Witt, age 6, had a skin test done recently.  Poor little guy... 32 individual pricks on the back.  It was not an enjoyable day.  Here is a shot of his back right after the test was administered:

And 20 minutes later there were 6 positive results: Wheat, Soy, Almond, Hazelnut, Peanut, and Cantaloupe.

Thankfully the whelps are not as large as the first time he had the skin test years ago. And thankfully these allergies are not life-threatening!  We are still waiting on the results of the blood test to get a more complete picture of his food allergies.  Please say a little prayer for us as we enter back into the food allergy "club". 

Sad News...Dairy Allergy Returns

Witt "outgrew" his dairy allergy at age 2 1/2. We lived as a dairy-free family from the time he was 6 months old (when we found out about his his life-threatening allergy) until then.

After that, we slowly introduced dairy products into his diet. There were no reactions. He LOVED cheese and yogurt! We switched to raw milk and he drank that fine as well.

Then, about a year ago (around 5 1/2 years old), he started having stomach pains after he ate.  They were random and not every time he ate.  Then after a few months, the pain got worse and more frequent.  He wasn't finishing meals.

I began to narrow things down in his diet and watch what he ate and when the pain would come.  I had it narrowed down to gluten and/or dairy.  Then, one morning before he ate anything, I gave him a small glass of milk to drink and nothing else. I set the timer for 20 minutes to watch for a reaction.

Within 10 minutes he was in pain! He wouldn't eat anything else and went back to bed to wait it out. Poor little guy.

He had a doctor's visit and I brought up the possibility of lactose-intolerance turning up.  Dr. P said given Witt's history, he would not classify it as intolerance, but as an allergy.  He recommended keeping as much dairy out of his diet as possible.

I posted this new information on my food allergy blog, Must Follow Recipes, asking for suggestions. I got a response from Lady Makes It saying that her husband cycles through from allergy, to being able to tolerate milk in small amounts with Lactaid use, and then back to full-blown allergy. This gave me the idea to use Lactaid with Witt... and it worked beautifully!

For awhile.

Now, the Lactaid doesn't even help. He is even having stomach pains from baked-in milk and from cultured milk, like yogurt. :(

So now, I'm back to reading labels for hidden dairy and re-learning how to cook dairy-free for him. It's not as intimidating this time because I know I've done it before, but I am so not excited about this (for him or for me). However, at least now, at age 6, he is able to ask if something has dairy in it and (as of right now) the allergy is not life-threatening.

THAT is a HUGE blessing!!!

First Week of School

Last week definitely had it's ups and downs. I'll start with Witt, he had the easiest/best week:

Witt

Monday and Tuesday were both half-days, so I picked him up at noon.  He really did not seem happy or sad to be going to school. The first two days were just touring the school and getting used to the surroundings and new rules.

He did ask a few times throughout the week, "How many days do we go here? When do we homeschool again?"  He wasn't disappointed that we weren't homeschooling, just a little curious about how this was all going to work.

He "stayed on green" or "clipped up" every day. (They have a clothes pin that starts on green and then can clip up or down to a different color based on their behavior.) He seems to be settling in very well.


Will

This boy thought he got away with something when he fell asleep in class on Monday. On Tuesday he woke up again completely exhausted asking for a 7:30 bedtime.  Tuesday afternoon, I got a call from his homeroom teacher that he had his head down on his desk in all three of his classes.  She said Will just continued to say how tired he was and she wanted to know if there was anything external going on that she needed to know about.  We talked for quite a while about a few things and discussed the possibility that he is overwhelmed with the change from "quiet" (HA!) homeschooling to a class with 20 kids.  She was very pleasant and seemed willing to work with Will and us through this transition period.

When I picked him up on Wednesday he said he only put his head down once. I told him he really can't do that because that tells the teacher, "I'm not listening to you". Then he proceeded to tell me it was only after his assignment was complete that he put his head down. After a bit more probing, I found out that the other students were reading their library books after completing their assignments (he left his book at home).

Thursday and Friday seemed to be fine for him. No head down and he remembered his library book. :)


Nathan.

Poor Nathan. This has been the roughest on him. He went to school saying, "The best thing about school is recess!" Then it rained for two days. No recess on the playground. Then there was a hole in the plastic slide. No recess on the playground. Finally, on Friday, his class was allowed on the playground, but not on the slide area.

Monday was not a happy day for him. Tuesday I got a note from his teacher saying he is struggling following directions.Wednesday he "clipped up"! Thursday and Friday he "clipped up" and then back down. So he still ended on "green". I received another note from his teacher on Friday  - same reason.

It probably doesn't help that he has chosen to go by his legal name "Jonathan". He's not used to hearing that (unless he's in trouble).  I wrote "Nathan" on all his school supplies, so I had to go back and add the "Jo" to everything.  Now all of his supplies say, "JoNathan".  I've seen him write his name that way on a few papers last week - lol. He'll get it. :)

Friday he was in tears again. "I'm never ever ever ever going back to that school again! Everybody clips up and I clip down."

Just a background on Nathan, he does struggle with paying attention and following directions the first time. I wonder if it's because he couldn't hear well as a baby/toddler and just got used to being in his own world and tuning everything out. Will out-grew being in his own world around age 8, so I'm hopeful we'll see Nathan start paying more attention this next year.

Nathan and I had a nice talk about how he can try to pay attention better. I told him that when he hears his teacher he needs to "pause his brain" to listen and obey just like he pauses a video game to listen and obey. He snuggled in my lap while we talked and he finally calmed down. We talked about new rules and getting used to being in a class with lots of kids.  I told him that he was not in trouble, but that he did need to really practice paying attention and following directions the first time. He admitted that he could do a better job and would try.


Today... Monday of Week 2 ...

Everyone finished their chores and was ready to go early. We had a little pep-talk about listening and obeying on the way to school. All three were in a pleasant mood going into the school building.  I pray today will go well for all of them. 

I love my sweet boys.

The Results are In

The first day of public school is now over. Here are the results:

Witt (Kindergarten)

He only had a half-day. He was neither excited nor upset about his day. Here's what he told me he did in the 4 hours he was there:

I saw the art room, the place where we eat, the princetaple (Principal) - we talked to him for a while.  We ate lunch and had PE. I learned to sit on the black line. We also got to stand on the rug. Someone stood on the red light, someone stood on the grapes, someone stood on the... (several different pictures).  We watched tv. Elmo and (pause) Barney (said in a disgusted voice!). Then I learned where I will wait for you to pick me up. 

When do my brothers come home? What can I do when we get home? Can I have a dessert? Can I play video games?  

Nathan (2nd grade) 

Full day of school. When I picked him up, I could see it all over his face that he did NOT have an enjoyable day.

The PE teacher sounded mean in her voice. We didn't play games. We had to do a meet-and-greet. I didn't like it very much. We didn't have recess either!

(Almost in tears:) I don't think I'm ready for this school. (break my heart!)

 (So I asked about math... he likes math.) Yes, we had math. But I didn't like their kind of math. They had too many words mixed in with the numbers. I like our home math. (I honestly don't know what he's talking about here because we did word problems ALL THE TIME.) 

(I told him that today was not a typical day. PE would get more exciting and recess would come when there wasn't rain. Then I asked him if he wanted some frozen yogurt. He was feeling a little better after that.)  :)

Will (5th grade) 

Full day of school. Relaxed with a grin on his face when I picked him up. Here's what he had to say:

Well...
(if you know Will, then you are quite aware that he starts everything with "well...")

I had a good day. I remembered some of the kids from my Kindergarten class. We spent our morning getting our binders ready for the school year. That lasted until 10:00! We had a meet-and-greet in PE. We went to music. I have some papers for you to fill out - you can go on the internet to take care of them. I ate lunch and I heard some mumbling from someone that they wished they had a lunchbox like mine. We had snack time.

 ME: What? No one told me you had a snack time? Nathan... did you have a snack time? (Yes) What did you guys eat? (Nothing) What? How come I didn't know about snack time? I am SO SORRY boys.

 Will, grinning: You've been homeschooling for 4 years... that's why you didn't know about snack time! 

 Back to Will's monologue...

We switched classes and in the third class I fell asleep. The teacher was trying to learn everyone's names and when he finally got them all right, he went all crazy-like and woke me up! (proud of himself and smiling like he got away with something).

Then I met up with Nathan and waited for you to pick us up. 

Are we really going for frozen yogurt? :) 

First Day of Public School

Witt Wants to Read

So on the very first day of school, Witt is up at his normal 6:15am.  As Jeff and I are eating breakfast before he leaves for work, Witt announces that he wants to learn to read.  As far as I know he has never even put together 3-letter words, so I get out the Fishy Phonics card game.

Basically, the card game is set up to where you are supposed to ask if the other player has a word that starts with a letter. However, he wanted to READ... not just pick a letter. So I asked him what the first sound was... then the second...and then the third. He put them all together and was so pleased with himself!!

He read the WHOLE DECK while Jeff and I finished breakfast!

"Mama, can I read now?"

"Yes, Baby. You sure can!!!"

As his brothers woke up, he proudly shared that he could now read! :) What an exciting morning for him!


Oh, and later in the week we began using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and he completed 17 lessons within two days!

First week of Kindergarten was a SUCCESS! :)

Back to School

Well, we've started our third year of homeschooling! This year I (formally) have THREE students! Witt is in Kindergarten, Nathan in 1st, and William is a 4th grader! 

I must admit the past week has been a bit of a challenge.  They each learn so differently.  Will is more independent and driven by the clock and break-time; Nathan is pretty laid-back but will say he only likes math, and Witt is surprisingly quite the perfectionist (he gets upset when he doesn't do it as well as he wants to).

We are beginning our first year of Classical Conversations. I think this is going to suite each of the boys very well, but in different ways as well.  Will loves facts and CC is a fact-memorizing giant! :)  Nathan is extremely mechanical and hands-on, but he also extremely silly! He is really going to enjoy the hand-motion portion of the memorizing and I think he's going to be smitten with the science labs.  Witt is my little social man... and my singer.  He's going to love the songs and all the conversations! 

Beyond CC, not too much has changed in our daily line-up of curriculum choices; however, we have had quite a successful addition this year: a personal journal! All three of them are loving it!! 

Will writes about his day (facts & tangibles), and of course, he draws trains.

Nathan's journal is filled with "I wish" statements (my little dreamer!).

Witt, although he loves it, has trouble each day deciding what to draw because he wants to get it just right...note all the eraser marks! (Bless his sweet, little heart!)

I love these boys! Even though they sure can try my patience, I adore them. I am so blessed to have the opportunity of teaching them for another year.

Witt's Map (age 4 1/2)

(No Sew) Superhero Cape

 

My two Super Mario fans playing in their Superhero Capes!  

Idea from Pinterest... of course!

First Day of School Pics

Start All Over Again

Will, age 8 1/2

"Mom, can I have a shovel? I want to dig a trench for the rain." 

"Mom, can I dig a hole in the front yard so I can play golf?"

"Mom, can we start building a small fire for cold nights?"

Hey ~ at least he ASKS! :)

On the way back from Magic Kingdom, heading to the resort: 

"Now that we're going home, I want to sleep. Don't wake me up until lunch time."

 This from the kid who has never slept past 7am. :)

Nathan, age 5 1/2

It's never a good thing when the child that has brought you the front door knob before starts a conversation with,

"Mom, I accidentally unscrewed this..."

After dropping a toy

"Upsie my daisies..." then he turned and said, "if I had four hands I could do moe work!"

On the definition of "country"

Country is where you can pee outside 'cause no one can see you!

 

Witt, almost 4 years old

After leaving the Magic Kingdom

"We saw Woody and Jesse but none of their friends." {Thoughtful Pause} "Maybe they are still in the computer."

While sitting on the potty in a public restroom equipped with an automatic flush that went off too early -

"Now I'm going to have to start all over again!"

 

Not Tiny Talk, but this cracked me up...

included in a text from my husband, Jeff, where he had misspelled a word: 

"Spelling? I'm an engineer and calculators can't spell either."

Camel Ice Cream

Witt, almost 4

Asking for caramel on his ice cream -

 "Can I have some camel on my ice cream, please?"

 Wanting some clothespins to help hold up a homemade tent -

"Mom, can I have some snatchers to hold up our camp?"

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Nathan, 5 1/2

Smacks his head with his hand,

"Come on brain, think! think! Sometimes my brain doesn't work so well!"

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Will, 8 1/2

After studying Jupiter -

"Jupiter is full of gas; just like the sun. Maybe someone can make a huge pump to fill up rockets with the gas as fuel."

(Looks like we need to discuss the differences between gas (gasoline) and gas (a state of matter). LOL!)

Help Us to Not Love Pharaoh

Witt, almost 4, is generally a long-winded pray-er. LOL! Here's a short version of his "standard" night time prayer, which is actually pretty good:

Dear God,
Thank you for this day.
Thank you for this beautiful weather.
Thank you for our pets and the computer and all the things we get to do.
Please help us to do everything.
Please help us to love each other.
Please help us to love Jesus, but help us not love Pharaoh and not love the Devil.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen.

I don't know how Pharaoh got in there, btw. :)

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Nathan, age 5 1/2, spilled a small bag of jelly beans in the truck.  His comment:

"I didn't spill them all; I ate one!"


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I'm not a big fan of food coloring, but how do you say "no" to a little boy sporting a huge grin when he asks, "Can you make my eggs GREEN?" :D
(At least they were pastured eggs from a farm.)

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I've been on a low carb diet this year and apparently I've been talking a little too much about it.  At our end of the year homeschool co-op party, Will (age 8 1/2) came up behind me as I was eating a cookie (the first I'd had in weeks *gasp*) and very politely asked,

"Mom, why are you eating so many carbs today? You might put on some extra weight."

Spring Sheering

BEFORE 

 

His first words after the cut were, "HEY! I can see now!"

Map Work

We've been filling in this map as we go through Sonlight's World History studies.  I've wondered how much was sinking in though, as we don't do a lot of review or testing on Geography.

 

However, one day we started discussing the Yellow River for the second time. I asked Will to point it out, but before he could, Witt pipes up with, "I KNOW! I KNOW!" and ran to the map. 

Do YOU know where the Yellow River is?  Well, let me tell you... my 3 1/2 year old does! :)

So, I guess it is sinking in. Good stuff! :)

Big, Crazy Hair

After a bath, Witt asked me to give him some big crazy hair. I blow-dried his hair while brushing it straight back. He has such long, curly hair but you really can't tell in the pics. He thought it was great and loved his crazy hair anyway. :)