Love In Action

As I sit in bed this cozy Saturday night in the home of one of my oldest and dearest friends from college  up in Dallas with my sweet boy snoozing next to me, I'm the happiest I've been in a long time.  Tired but happy.  We've had a great weekend, just great.  And it's only Saturday night :)

Yesterday we got up, I washed my hair, finished our packing and got us out the door just 5 minutes late for swim lessons.  A quick stop to get gas, running home to make Tate's lunch for the road and we were on our way to Dallas.  Why?

It's time for the Day Out with Thomas!!!

This was our third year to go.  I think I look forward to it more than Tate does.  I love getting away with my little guy, though I absolutely abhor driving.  But most places we travel to I need a car, so I'm stuck if I'm staying in Texas.  But Dallas is just about far enough that I can justify flying and renting a car, but so far I've held off.  Tate is a great car traveler, rarely complains, doesn't spend alot of time on his Leappad (I usually allow him 2 30 minute sessions while we're driving this distance), happily reads books, listens to music or just simply enjoys the view.  How much luckier could I get?

Listening to his 'Nemo' read-a-long book!

Time to color!

Showing off his coloring!

I always buy some new books, download a couple new apps to his leappad and get some new coloring books for him and dole out half for the ride on the way and half for the ride home.  It's worked out really well for us!

We arrived at my old college roommate's house in the late afternoon.  She's married with a 6 year old daughter whom Tate has met before.  Susan (mom) and I lived together my senior year in college and had an absolute blast all those years ago.  I love love love this girl, and I'm so glad we've stayed so close.  And I love that our kids are friends.  She's a physician and she's just the bestest.

We let the kids play outside for a bit as the weather was absolutely gorgeous;  I had brought Tate's bike with me from home, so they were in heaven.  They joined a couple of kids from the neighborhood and rode around for about 30 minutes while we moms hung out and chatted.

We ordered pizza, had some wine and chilled out.  I got Tate bathed and in bed pretty close to his normal time, so all was good.  Susan and I hung out just a bit, and then we headed off to bed.

Tate had a rocky night, waking up at least 3 times, but slept until 6:30 which was very nice.  We rushed around after he had some breakfast as we had tickets for the 9am Thomas ride.  I wanted him to be able to see Thomas before the ride when it's not very busy and the kids actually have time to hang out and 'talk' to Thomas.  We were keeping my girlfriend Angela's daughter for the day (the one who rode Thomas with us 2 years ago!);  her grandmother was meeting Tate and me at the Thomas ride and handing O off to me since Angela had to work.  We met up and I grabbed O, and we were off to ride the train!  

As an aside...it was freezing, ok freezing to us Texans.  The temps were in the low 50s this morning.  Thankfully I remembered that it had been chilly the last two times, but this time even the kids complained.  Sigh.

A couple of pics with Thomas and we boarded the train!

The kids were so very excited!!

I love how he's looking at her.  He adores O!

I think the feeling is mutual :)

(We had already made a stop at the Thomas store!!)

After we got off the train we took O to ride the ponies;  Tate wanted no part of riding the ponies today which surprised me.  Then we had to get some Thomas tattoos!!!

By this time we had connected with another old friend of mine from college whose family had come in town to ride the Thomas train as well.  She lives up here with her husband and kids, who are 12, 14 and 19 (in college).  She, like Susan, was one of my sorority sisters in college.  Love, love, love her too!    Susan had called her the day before to tell her I was coming up.  Barbie turned around and called me so we could make plans to see one another.  I was just so happy to be so loved.  She had brought her 12 year old daughter along and while her brother and his family rode the train, they were free to hang out with us.  We took the kiddos off to ride the trackless train!!

Barbie and her daughter rode as well!

The next generation!!!

Tate and I got in line to see Sir Topham Hatt while Barbie took O along with Susan and her daughter S who by then had arrived to go ride the ponies again.  Tate was a bit out of sorts because he was so very cold, but he soldiered on after some convincing.  I even bought some cotton candy for him, O and S, his first time having cotton candy.  Surprisingly he didn't like it at all.  Go figure.

Barbie and her family had to go, and our kids were starving, so Susan and I took Tate and the girls to a hamburger dive for lunch.  As always, Tate was very touchy feely, wanting me to hug and cuddle him while we ate.  He's always like that when we go out to eat, and I love it.  In fact, when Raik was in town a couple of weeks ago and we went out to eat, he mentioned it.  I thought it was a nice testament to my relationship with Tate.

Anyway, Susan and S had to leave after lunch, so Tate, O and I walked around the historic downtown for a bit stopping in a couple of cute stores.  I gave them strict instructions in one store which was full of glass and ceramics to not touch one thing, to keep their hands on their toys they had in their hands.  And they listened!  I couldn't have been more proud of them, and I was sure to tell them when we left how proud I was of their excellent behavior and listening skills.

As we walked along the quaint little downtown area, people were always looking at us, many made comments on the kids and their gorgeous curly hair.  Many of them seemed quite impressed with how well behaved they are;  I noticed this the last time I had the two of them out together.  They are the same height, have very similar hair, and they get along great....what I quickly realized is that they appear to be twins.  People in shops and stores are always saying 'Your brother this' or 'Your sister that'.  The kids don't correct them, nor do I many times.  What I also have noticed is that people seem to be really surprised that I would bring my 'twins' out by myself, especially back when I brought them out in 2012 when they were just 2 years old.  I find it funny and endearing for some reason :).  But mostly I'm proud of the mothers Angela and I are to have raised these well behaved sweet kids...all on our own!!!

A little treat!!

A quick stop to buy a couple of photos at the Thomas ride, and I let Tate and O watch a Thomas video in the depot and we were on our way to visit another friend, sorority sister of mine about 30 minutes away.  This is my dear friend who just finished her breast cancer battle one year ago last month!!!  Remember our Fight Like A Girl 'celebration' last January?!  It was in her honor, our way to shower her with love and support!

I promised O we could listen to 'Frozen' on the way to Julie's

(its Monday night now)
We stayed at her house for about 2 1/2 hours, talking and catching up.  The kids were amazing!  They played with the puppy, drank some hot cocoa, amused themselves with some legos and just played with one another.  This was in a home with two boys...12 years old and 14 years old. (Sadly they were not home).  What I'm getting at is there were no real toys for them to play with.  O had Tate's Anna doll and he had his new train from the Thomas adventure.  We did take them to a playground for about 30 minutes, but it was chilly and rainy, yet they had a blast!  It was so wonderful to see my dear Julie again.  She looks great and I'm ever so grateful that she has recovered so well.  We are so blessed.

Tate, O and I were then on our way again.  More 'Frozen' music including another duet 

and we were off to drop O off at her mama's work...her mama is an AWESOME ER physician!  So proud of me and my sistergirls and all that we have accomplished.  Me, Susan and Angela...docs in the medical/dental profession.  Julie has an MBA and was a fantastic marketing rep before deciding to stay home and raise her boys (I'm so very jealous).   We're pretty fabulous if I may say so myself.   We hung out a bit at the ER then Tate and I headed back to Susan's for the evening.  She had a most delicious meal going when we arrived.  I got Tate situated with his dinner while enjoying some wine with Susan.  We were treated to a fabulous piano duet while we noshed on some yummy chicken and veggies (and wine).  Then Tate and S decided to create 'Frozen 2' complete with puppy and Tate playing Keith Urban on the banjo.

Hugs good-bye for Aunt Angela!

'Frozen 2'

Tate and S played for about an hour together while the three of us adults enjoyed some conversation.  Finally got Tate to sleep and we all decided to enjoy a quiet evening.  S was asleep by 830 or so (she had to work on Sunday), and I climbed into bed around 9 after loading the car up as much as I could.  I was sound asleep by 10 (piddled on the computer ... starting this post :) ).

At 1:30am, Tate woke up with a horrific case of croup.  Poor baby has been congested since early last week.  The pollen in Houston is just terrible, absolutely terrible.  Everyone is miserable.  I've been giving him Zyrtec every night, and I take his Xoponex with me everywhere because he coughs alot due to his allergies, but it's a dry cough, almost asthmatic.  We had been outside almost all day, and the pollen in Dallas is as bad as it is here.  So I shouldn't have been surprised that he got croup because all his mucous tends to land in his vocal cords when he gets a cold or congested.  But this time he was scared.  Poor baby was almost hysterical every time he tried to get a breath which prompted the awful barking.  It took a couple minutes for him to calm enough to get some puffs from his Xoponex, but once he did, he was much better.  I then opted to give him so Ibuprofen to help reduce the inflammation of his cords as well to also help him breathe.  He was asleep less than 15 minutes after he woke up.  Normally it's hard for me to go back to sleep after he has an episode though I know what to do...go into the cold, Xoponex etc.  That night I was able to sleep easier knowing that Susan was upstairs.  Having friends who are physicians who would do anything for you or your child makes the long, scary nights much easier.  (She's family med doc who practices lots of emergency medicine)  How lucky am I?

We slept in!  Ok slept until 6:30.  Sadly it was pouring rain when we got up, but we persevered.  I got Tate some breakfast, got myself a shower and got our stuff together.  Susan was working that day at 8am, so as she left I brought my car into the garage and loaded our stuff up.  We were on the road at 8:15.  A quick gas stop and we were trudging along in the torrential rain.  It rained on us for 4 long hours.  We got a reprieve just outside of Houston proper.

Once home, Tate was on the floor with his new train, The Flying Scotsman, while Vincent moaned and groaned about how terrible we were to leave him home alone.

A whirlwind weekend to be sure.  I did alot of driving around and entertaining of some little people, but  it was so nice to be around some of the people I love the most in the world.  No matter where we are or how long it's been since we've seen one another, it's like coming home.  Coming home to these friends in my life who are my rocks.  I saw Barbie last January for the first time in 24 years.  24 years!!  And now I've seen her 3 times in the past 18 months!  For these brief moments when we all hug and connect all is seemingly all right.  We're all so busy, and we certainly all have our difficulties, stressors and sadness, but that foundation we built shores us up.  We all know it too it seems.  All conversations end with "I love you"s.  All of them.

That's how I want Tate to end his conversations with me, his family and his friends.  Knowing he's loved and loving in return.  That's why I make all these trips, yes part of it is because I know he'll love the adventures, but mostly to show him love in action.

A Picture....Worth A Thousand Words, isn't it?

We co-sleep on that bed.

Not for much longer :)

A Fun Family Weekend!

Whew!!  What a weekend!!  I should be in bed!  But we've had so much fun!!!

Friday morning found us up with the roosters at 6 and there was no lolly gagging about in bed for me that morning!  We were off to the dealership to get my car checked in for her 90,000 mile check-up appointment at 7:40, so after a quick breakfast for Tate we were on the road!  

I decided to also go ahead and buy another key for the car!! It just wasn't worth the stress and worry of not losing the one I just purchased a couple of weeks ago.  So that was an added $320 to my bill, but whacha gonna do?

 

We came home for a hot minute to let Tate play with his trains, and I could get the rest of our stuff for our day together!  We ran off to swim lessons where Tate had a blast until the teacher had them all practice learning how to breathe while swimming...the 3 of them hate this part of lessons the most! :)

I zipped him over to daycare for pajama day and movies!  He was so excited;  all the kids were to bring their favorite movies.   Tate brought 'Percy's Chocolate Crunch' to share with his buddies.  I was then off to my 90 minute massage with the fantastic Jane...she is absolutely awesome!

I then had to make my way to our annual Houston dental meeting for the afternoon.  I had one lecture to attend and the speaker was really good.  He spoke about nutrition and diet...great information!  I left a bit early and made it over to pick up Tate so we could spend the rest of the late afternoon and early evening together.  He was a bit worn out though...

Saturday morning I lazed in bed a bit while Tate watched some 'Frozen' videos on YouTube then I was up washing my hair, getting him situated with breakfast and the house a bit tidied up!  We drove off to pick up my car and return our loaner.  We were then off to soccer...Tate did score a goal...in the wrong goal :).  Details.  Details.  Next stop was Tate's favorite place...the library!!!  He was in heaven!  

We made our way home a bit later for a quick lunch then we were off to Crave to pick up a cupcake as we were off to my nephew's 2 year old birthday celebration at my sister's house.  We hung out for a couple hours;  Tate, of course, spent the first 30 minutes playing with Scotty's old train set.  After cake we went outside to let the boys run around in the gorgeous Spring sunshine!

I had promised Tate we would go to the French Fry Place for dinner.  He was in his very happy place.  I wonder if he loves this place because of the food or the chance to gaze at himself...his self love is very evident :).

A quick trip to the grocery store, and we were finally on our way home.  Bath, stories and toothbrushing done and he was asleep by 7:45!

Tate was awake by 5:30 this morning to my chagrin.  I made him stay in bed, ostensibly with his eyes closed, until 6.  Then I let him watch his beloved trains on YouTube for 90 minutes while I went straight back to sleep, and I slept hard.  When my alarm (I use my phone) went off I didn't hear it;  all of a sudden I heard Tate saying "Mommy!  Mommy!! MOMMY!  Your phone is ringing!"  :)  I finally woke up and got us some breakfast, and we were off to church.  Tate was a bit difficult in church, just laying about, not wanting to pay attention.  But we made it through, though I'm so tired of having to threaten Tate to get good behavior...I want him to behave because he knows he should.  Sigh.  I told him if he didn't behave we weren't going to be able to play with H this afternoon because if he couldn't be nice with me, how was I to know he would be nice with her.  Cue the tears and hiccups and good behavior.  

Another grocery store stop complete with snacks for him, breakfast for me and we were back home for a reprieve.  I got his lunch together, and we were off to meet H and her mom at the park.  It was a new park to us, and it was an absolutely gorgeous day!!  We were there for 2 1/2 hours and it was just great.  The kids had a blast running around playing and did really well together.  It was just lovely to be able to sit back with N and just talk the day away.  No stress around, no worries about doing laundry, washing dishes, cleaning anything.  It was just a wonderful afternoon.  I even let Tate enjoy a popsicle from the ice cream man!!!

On the way home, we stopped by the shoe store to buy some Captain America shoes for Tate!  He's so excited with his new light up shoes.  And he's a size 11 now!  Please stop growing child!!!

We came home and Tate went back to playing with his trains while I let loose my culinary skills.  In the 75 minute period between when we got home and ate dinner, I made Chicken Marsala for tomorrow's dinner, sliders on the George Foreman grill for tonight's dinner, noodles and green beans for Tate's lunch tomorrow, and baked a chicken breast to make chicken salad for my lunch for the week.  Just call me Julia Child!!!  The house smells yummy!!

We cleaned up, yes we!  Singulair down his gullet and we made our way upstairs for bedtime routine!! We took a shower together...Tate hates showers, so I've decided that he needs to learn how to take them.  I can't figure out what he doesn't like...the water in his face? the slipperiness?  the feel of the spray on his back?  He won't even shower after swim lessons.  So we are going to work this out.  He's happy to shower with me as long as I stand in front of him.  Tonight we worked on washing his hair and rinsing off under the spray directly, and he did great!!!  

We got ensconced on the bed and read a couple of stories, brushed his teeth and then I let him pick another story.  He chose one of his library books that is a Step 2 Reading book... a Thomas the Train book of course.  I decided to let him read a page then I would read a page.  He did great!!  He was able to sound out the majority of the words!!  So proud of my emerging reader!!

Now I'm talking my dear friend in NYC and enjoying a quiet evening.  What a lovely weekend.

The Follower

It's so very interesting to watch my child play, especially when he doesn't know I can see him.  We were at a birthday party today at Pump It Up (sigh), and the party was a glow in the dark party, so Tate really couldn't see me.  But I could see him!

It was a small group, no more than 10 kids.  The birthday boy is in Tate's class at school;  he's one of the 'Fab Four' as the teachers call them along with Tate and two other little boys.  These boys are a unit of friendship and love.  It's really quite sweet to watch.

I've noticed though over the past couple of years that Tate is definitely a follower.  It was ever more evident today at the party.  The birthday boy ran around with everyone, which was nice to see, so Tate glommed on to the other boy from his class who was there. (the 4th didn't attend)  Everywhere K went Tate went.  If K was done on a bouncy, Tate was done with a bouncy.  If K wanted to sit down and rest, Tate wanted to sit down and rest.  Tate started coughing, as did K (I don't think this was copying :) ).  I walked over and suggested to Tate that he get a cup of water.  It wasn't until K's father suggested K get some water that Tate would agree.  

He did the same thing at the playground a couple of weeks ago...but this time he found some random kid to follow around.  It's cute at first, but it quickly can become annoying especially if the other child decides he just wants some space or wants to hang out with someone else.  Tate doesn't seem to get his feelings hurt, but doesn't grasp the concept of moving on to something else.  And my little guy has such a strong personality here at home with me;  he definitely knows his mind and is always trying to tell me what to do.  He'll ask to 'play trains' with me, and I'll sit down and he'll proceed to tell me how to move my trains on the track, which ones I can use etc etc.  So I'm just a bit baffled by his behavior amongst his peers.

I certainly don't see K as being bossy.  He's simply running around having fun.  He's not saying to Tate "Let's go play here;  I don't want to do that."  He simply moves on when he's done playing in a spot, and if Tate comes, great, if not, no biggie.  I have mentioned my concern to his teacher, and she has noticed it too.  She does try to help Tate take leadership roles in play, but we really don't want to interfere with their play because everyone is having fun.  So we've let it be.

So, I'm left wondering is this a problem?  He's going into kindergarten next year as a young 5 with a late July birthday.  I have no intention of 'red-shirting' him as I think he is more than intellectually ready for kindergarten as well as physically as he's a bit tall.  I'm constantly told by strangers about how well he speaks and I think that comes from spending so much time with adults being the only child of a single parent...we spend lots of time with my sister and parents.  He's an emerging reader and can do simple addition.  Another year of Pre-K will bore him silly.  And I was thinking he was socially ready.  Now I worry about how he'll do in a new environment, especially if I do send him to the all boys' private school because the majority of the boys who will be in kindergarten will have spent the previous two years together in Pre-K 3 and 4.  Tate would be the definite newbie along with maybe 5-8 others in total for the two kindergarten classes.  

Maybe I'm looking for a problem that doesn't really exist.  Maybe this is ok and will work itself out.  I know not everyone can be a leader nor wants to be a leader;  goodness knows that is me.  This is why I'm an associate in private practice as opposed to a practice owner...a lack of self-confidence and no desire whatsoever to be the buck stops here gal.  And it works for me...usually.

But Tate's a boy, a guy, growing into a man.  I kind of thought leadership came natural to boys.  Seems like I have lots to learn about men, huh.

In the meantime I'm going to relish in my sweet boy in all his goodness.  I got the best compliment about him today at the birthday party.  The little boy whose party it was actually turned 5 on Friday. His sweet mommy brought cupcakes for the class to school.  She was so kind and purchased the cupcakes from Crave, so that she could get a Vegan one for my Tate.  I was more than appreciative, as a couple of times parents have brought in cupcakes without letting the teachers know in advance, and Tate couldn't have anything :(.  He's always a trooper and has his own snack, but I as well as the teachers always feel bad.  

In any event, A's mom was awesome to do this and refused to let me get Tate his own separate cupcake and let her purchase the class's from somewhere else (as Crave is expensive at $3.50 per cupcake!).  She got them all from Crave.  Today she told me that when she got to the school after naptime with the cupcakes that my sweet sweet boy actually came over to her and said "Thank you so much A's mom for getting me a cupcake that I can eat."  (I love how the kids all call us parents in this manner...I'm Tate's mom!  As I walk in every night I hear "Hi Tate's mom!"  "Tate's mom... Tate is in the other room."  It's so endearing)

Anyway, she was so impressed by his good manners and that he went out of his way to come up and thank her.  It really left a lasting impression that he was so grateful.  

My sweet sweet boy.  I just love him.

After party lollipop!!  Life is GOOD!!!

The Waiting Is Almost Over!

This is it!!  This is the month!!  School acceptances and lottery 'winnings' are decided this month.  One school has emailed prospective students' parents to say admission decision letters go out this Friday; anohter has posted on its site that letters go out March 2014.  The lottery for public school is March 28th.  So this is it!  The moment(s) I've been waiting for.  

Trying to keep busy, busy, busy which isn't too hard as work is super busy with spring break this week and next.  We had a low key, Tate and Mommy weekend this past weekend which was really nice after the craziness of our Friday at the doctor.

Some weekend highlights...

Last Saturday of Winter 2014 soccer...

We found an awesome new playground that one of the moms in our soccer class told me about!  The train is brand new!!!!  Guess who was in heaven?!  We were there about an hour.  We went by ourselves, but there were tons of kids there.  It's interesting (and hard) to watch your child play with other kids neither of you knows.  The older kids want to make fun of the little kids; at one point I thought it was really getting out of hand as about 4-5 7 and 8 year old girls were surrounding Tate and sticking their tongues out at him making that spitting sound.  I let him work it out at first and when I saw no change I did step in and remove him from the situation.  I reminded him that sticking out tongues and spitting is very rude and that when people are doing that they are being mean.  I then reminded him of what we do when people are rude and mean...we walk away and find someone else to play with.  Luckily he seemed not the least bit fazed, more surprised than anything.  All was good and he had an absolute blast!

So very happy!

Isn't this so very cool?

And then he figured out how to climb on top!

We came home and just hung out...so fabulous.

We skipped church on Sunday after the time change!  Ugh...I hate springing forward.  Tate woke up at 6:29am (the old 5:29am) and I was just exhausted.  I let him watch his precious trains and he was happy as a clam.  He's now watching videos that are mostly 'how steam engines work' or 'how diesel engines work' or ones that compare different types of toy trains and how they're made.  And he's happy as a clam, and I'm happy he's not just watching mindless crap.  

In any event, I slept until 8:30!!!  Ok slept off and on, but I got some really good zzzzzs.  So very happy.  We had a leisurely breakfast and made our way to the grocery store.

Later that day it was back to the park.  Yep! The park from the day before!!  Sunday it was a good 15 degrees cooler!  It had rained all night, so we practically had the place to ourselves.  There were two other little kids just about Tate's age and they had a great time chasing one another and playing...this is my idea of fun for 4 and 5 year olds!

Now tell me who wouldn't want this adorable little guy at their school!??  Whatever school WE choose will be lucky to have my sweet Tate!!!

More Allergy Testing...Did He Pass?????

About a month ago I took Tate in for allergy testing with the commercially prepared antigens of eggs, nuts and oranges.  He responded greatly to the nut panel, but not at all to the egg and orange panel!  I was so excited.  Though actually he didn't respond to the orange panel a year ago, but did respond to the natural orange being injected.  We returned today to do the scratch test with natural egg and natural orange. I had very high hopes that all would be clear.

I would be very wrong. 

He was actually non-responsive to the prick with the natural orange.

He got a huge welt, redness and smaller bumps in the vicinity with the egg.  In fact, I got a bit of egg on my hand as I was holding him and where the egg actually touched his shoulder he broke out in redness.  

He was such a trooper too.  Last night I told him we were going to see his allergist today (Friday).  I told him they were going to put the tingles on his back again, but just 4 this time.  (last time there were about 20)  He told me very sweetly "I'm not going to cry when they do the tingles this time."  I told him it was ok to cry and reminded him that he didn't start crying last time until they had done about 9 or 10 of them, so I was very impressed.  

Today was much harder though, poor baby.  I had to bring a plain scrambled egg and an orange.  He was in a fabulous mood when we got there.  He was weighed (37.2 pounds...down a 1/2 pound from a month ago) and gowned up :).  He loved the gown with dalmatians and fire trucks all over it.  Today's nurse was absolutely fantastic!  We loved her.  She engaged Tate in conversation, and he just walked over to her and chatted her up, hands on her legs and touching her arm.  I love this boy!  He had to do a flowmeter test which was hilarious watching him try to figure out how to do it....how to take a big breath then blow quickly.  He did finally get it though.  Apparently, they have to be sure their lungs are not only clear but full and not constricted in case of an anaphylactic reaction.  In addition, Tate has just become congested in the past 24 hours, so this was worrisome when it came to his breathing for a food challenge.  But he passed the flow meter test, so I opted to move forward.  

Fantastic nurse (I know her name, but I'm not going to use it here) cleaned his back and drew the lines which had him giggling.  Then it was time to put the egg under his skin.  She had to place a bit of the scrambled egg on his back and then push the needle through the egg making sure to get the egg under his skin.  He immediately started crying.  I felt so bad for him.  The orange was a bit easier because it was the juice from the orange, so it went in really easily.  Then the control and histamine.  A couple of minutes of tears, lots of hugs and we were good.  Fantastic nurse brought us in a portable heater (did I say how much I LOVE her!!) and we were good to go.  We had a 20 minute wait.  Almost immediately he reacted to the egg.  He was splotchy red and itching.  However as I said he didn't react to the orange at all.  

Before the tingles... 

After the tingles...sweet boy

Still smiling though...love him! 

This is about 3 minutes after the pricks.  You can see
the welt from the egg and the surrounding redness.  The
orange stick is red as well, but no welt.  Some redness is
expected, but the amount around the egg prick is
expanding quickly.

So no egg food challenge for us today.  Doc said we can come back if/when we want to let him try baked goods, ie a food made with eggs in it to see if he responds to that.  67-70% of people who are allergic to eggs can ingest food made with eggs.  He doesn't want him to have any without a food challenge first because of the severity of his reaction at 13 months old.  At that point he had never had a food made with egg, so we don't know how he will tolerate it.  In addition his back was pretty inflamed from just a pinch of egg today and it also got irritated with egg just on his skin...not good signs.

So then Doc and I discussed doing a food challenge with an orange.  He pretty much left it up to me.  I figured what the heck...let's do it.  He said he'd never done a food challenge with oranges before because Tate is the first person he's ever known with an orange allergy, which I knew.  This is a very rare allergy.  However, he was really concerned about doing this because Tate's reaction to the orange at 16 months old was so severe, landing him in the ER with him getting a shot of epinephrine.  We soldiered on.  Fantastic nurse brought us back our orange, and I convinced Tate to eat an entire slice.  

Then we had to wait an hour.  We had already been there 90 minutes.

We played with the blocks they had in the room which surprised me because Tate has never ever shown any interest in building anything with blocks in my presence.  He played with his two trains I brought with me, I read him a couple of stories and I let him watch trains on my phones.   I read on my kindle.  

Oh and I scratched his back a lot where the egg had been injected because he was so itchy.  And they had already swabbed him down with a cortisone cream.

An hour later and we had no response.  His skin was clear, he never vomited, he never complained about breathing problems.

He can have oranges!!!!!

However, I don't anticipate I'll allow him to have an orange outside my presence for a few years to come :).  I don't know that I'll ever be comfortable with him having any of these foods without me around if/when he tests negative for the eggs and peanuts.  I have no idea how to let go of the worry that someday the allergy might come back.  Food allergies are so different and new now it seems...I just don't know that I trust these results.  I mean I trust them, but oh goodness I can't imagine being able to send my 6 year old to school with an orange.  I don't see it happening.  How do I get past the fear?

We made our customary after the allergy testing doctor visit to get a new train.  He came home with Diesel 199.  Don't ask.  He ate lunch on the run in the car as we sped off to my hair appointment.  I decided to keep him with me all day, so I could keep an eye on him just in case.  He was fantastic there too and we were there for 2 hours....I had my hair colored, conditioned and cut.  FINALLY!  I let him watch his Extreme Trains documentaries and 2 episodes of Little Einsteins.  He was happily in heaven.

Don't drop Mommy's computer!
And note the new train keeping him company!

We came home and I took a cat nap while he played at my feet for about 30 minutes.  We read a couple of books then headed to his favorite restaurant...The French Fry Place.  We headed off to the playground after that for about 30 minutes and ran into a little boy from his Saturday soccer class whose mom I really like.  So that was awesome!!!!!  They played with his dad while she and I chatted.  I really like her...I hope we become better friends.  Tate had a blast with M.

Then it was home, bath, stories, benadryl (for his cough and congestion and yes in case the orange makes some strange comeback), toothbrushing and then he was sound asleep by 7:40.  

I love this boy.

Dinner tonight!