Green Eggs and Ham? The 12th Day of Advent

Well, Tate won't be having eggs of any sort anytime soon...no green ones, no scrambled ones, no boiled ones...nada!  We made a pilgrimage to the allergist this morning for a follow-up test to his egg and orange allergies.  In addition, he was tested for about 25 environmental allergens.  Yep, the little pin-prick test and he did GREAT!! Not a tear, not a fuss!!  I was shocked!  What a trooper this little boy is.  In any event, we were there for almost 2 hours.  Unfortunately he tested positive for both the egg and orange, so none of that for the next year, and he also tested positive for an allergy to CATS!!  But nothing else...not dust mites, any of the molds/spores we tested for, none of the trees etc we tested for.  But cats!  Our poor Vinnie is being banished from our room :(.  However the doc did say that since Tate's runny nose is not a consistent thing and that it seems to occur during the height of allergy seasons...March/April and October/November he most likely is not truly allergic to Vincent, maybe other cats, but not Vincent.   I'm to try to keep a good log of when he seems congested and presenting with a productive cough enough that I start him on Zyrtec. He may have tested positive simply because he has been sensitized to Vinnie/cats.  His eczema may be the only symptom he exhibits, but even that is so much better, so who knows.  So for now Vinnie is home.  Tate was a great patient.  He didn't cry or have any meltdowns at all.  He was happy to play with the toys they had as well as all the toys I brought from home. I also came prepared with 2 changes of clothes for both of us in case we did an actual food challenge which resulted in any vomiting, lots of burp cloths for wiping up messes, scrambled and boiled egg all for naught as he didn't pass the skin test.  But he's a happy little boy and in the grand scheme of issues he could have this is nothing!! 

Sweet baby...if you look at the left side of his back that top welt is the reaction to cats (the one below it that's so big is the control).  To the right is the egg reaction, smaller but definitely present.

Ready to go home!!

All tuckered out!

We ventured over to Texas ENT to see our ENT, my old friend Jim Grant from college.  I had called him that morning when I realized that the allergist's office was right next door to his office!!  He put Tate's tubes in June 15, 2010.  He's just great, and I've always just adored him!  I've also found that there are times that being able to preface your name with Doctor is a really good thing.  We walked into a full waiting room at 11:05am, and I simply said to the front desk lady "I'm Dr. Cunningham, I'm just stopping by to see Dr. Grant, I talked to him this morning" with a smile.  And boom!  "Yes Ma'am, let me call his nurse ma'am."  And voila!  We just meandered on back and got to spend a few minutes with Jim who couldn't let the opportunity pass to check out Tate's ears!  The left tube is out of the ear drum, and the right one will probably be coming out soon, but so far so good for Tate and no ear infections!!  It was just great to see one of my oldest friends in the world!


I loaded Tate back up in the car and we made our way back into town;  he fell asleep as I knew he would by 11:25, so I drove slowly, got some lunch at Chick-Fil-A, ate in the parking lot and slowly made my way back home.  He was able to sleep until 1!  We came home and played a bit, got him some lunch.  I offered him a run to the grocery store and the playground with me or the moonwalk/slide at daycare with his friends...guess which he chose.  I dropped him, ran to the store, came home and made some chili then went to pick him up 1 1/2 hours later.  I walked in just as he was about to go outside with  his class.  He took one look at me and burst in loud, heaving sobs.  So I left him to play with his friends a bit longer.  How lucky am I that he loves his school, his teacher, his friends so much!!

Since he had an early nap, I wanted to have him in bed earlier tonight, and he was.  I had him in his crib at 6:41pm.  He was out within 10-15 minutes.  Today was the 12th day of the celebration of Advent.  He chose a gorgeous book tonight.  It is called 'The Story of Christmas'.  It seems to be based on the version told in Luke, the one everyone knows, and it's simply and beautifully told in toddler-understandable words.  And most importantly, all the characters are black.  I couldn't be more pleased.  Tate may not understand the importance of this at his young age, but I do, I do.  One day he will too.

Oh!  Tate was weighed and measured today!  29.4 pounds and 36.2 inches!!  Tall and lean!!  Love him!