Vegmom Moments

Let the Kid Read (Ingredients?)

This week's worth of camp is over and my Kiddo had a GREAT Time!  But this is the first time he's really been away from us or his Montessori Teachers.  Or family and friends that know his food issues... So it was the first time I felt like I was sending him off each morning, not knowing.....

Will he rebel against his awesome diet after so long of feeling good and take a bite of something forbidden?

He could have....  After all, we weren't there!  But he DIDN'T.... NOPE, not a single nibble.... We packed his lunch full with enough snacks and lunch to get him through each day....  And he chose our food or their fruit over anything else that was offered.

I expect him to have to deal with kids not understanding, but did NOT expect him needing to stand up for himself to the Teacher....

He asked if her food had high fructose, milk or artificial ingredients. She said she didn't know and, put the food down in front of him and told him to just eat it.

He asked her if he could read the ingredients first. And she didn't allow it. She even went so far as to say that I told them he could eat anything.... Hmmmm now do any of you believe that one????  (To her defense, she was not the person I talked to when I dropped him off the first day.)

Knowing better, My little man left the snacks to the side, and ate his own yummy goodness from his lunch box.  I can't even tell you how proud I am of that kid.... Taking his own health, in to his own hands no matter what kids or adults said around him for 5 whole days.

And I mean really... What 7 year old kid asks to read the ingredients... how hard would it have been to humor the boy?

Needless to say, I'll be sure to have a longer conversation with anyone that "teaches" him going forward so that he has an easier time.

But at least I know that I don't have to worry about what he puts in his Bod when we aren't around. 

(at least for now.... I don't even want to think about the teenage years)

WHY DON'T THEY TELL??

I am not a doctor, and I am not a professional of any kind, so take this for what its worth...

I'm a MOM!  And I'm annoyed!...  So hold on to your eyeballs because this Mom is about to hop on a soap box!!!

People joke that I should write a book based on what I've learned, and maybe I would if I could find someone to publish it and knew anyone would read it.  But for now, I have this blog, and its my blog so I can say what I want to!

I have seen and heard and read stories of child after child with chronic allergy, illness, asthma, breathing issues, behavior problems, sinus..... ACK!  The list goes on.... Why oh why don't their doctors say

"Lets try changing their diet and see if that helps?

SILLY APPLE PUMPKIN DAY 2008

And so our Second Annual Silly Apply Pumpkin Day of 2008 comes to a close....  Veg ate his dinner at about 7:30 excused himself from the table and said "I'm going to bed, its been a long day"  AND HE DID!!!  Out cold... Fast Asleep.... No Muss No Fuss.....  But what did we do on this day you may ask??

First, there was School.... The kids got to carve a Pumpkin.  When parents arrived they auction off the pumpkins... Its all for fun and all proceeds go to the school... Did my guy CARVE a Pumpkin???  NOooooo!  He didn't want to "RUIN" the pumpkin!!  Wish I would have known that at 10pm last night when I was running around the city looking for a kid friendly carving tool..... And so he painted it!!  A beautiful masterpiece.  Notice the skeleton in picture 2:

Hubby brought Veg home after the auction, while I went back to work.  Upon getting home, I find my little Vegman in his usual costume attire... the same thing he's been for the last 5 years.... and I gave him his outdoor surprise...  The silliest pumpkin of ALL time... One that BOUNCES!!!  Really Really High!!  In fact so high, that it took off down the street and I was running very quickly to catch it before it got slaughtered by on coming traffic.  That was fun!! 

Here is Spidey, showing off his new friend!

And of course there were Leaves... Lots and Lots of Leaves... And finally one of my trees decided to turn pretty before the season ended:

After raking and jumping, raking and jumping, then playing our version of Dodge Ball and blowing bubbles.... OOH forgot to write about the bubbles....

While out last weekend, someone at a store gave Veg some bubbles.  Hubby wouldn't let him have them because they were "Halloween" and Hubby doesn't want Halloween celebrated...  Well... I say they are BUBBLES......  So tonight, I wrapped a little jar with happy pumpkin and apple stamped paper, then made my own bubbles....  Dish soap, Water and Sugar... I made it really really really soapy, so the bubbles were GREAT.  We found an old wand, and blew the most wonderful bubbles.

Ok, so after bubbles, leaves, bouncing ball and fun...  We came inside.....Bobbed for Apples!  Veg is much better this year then last year, but we all had some great laughs.  Hubby got his on the first try... SHOW OFF:

Then it was hand out candy time (to each other)  The candy I chose for Veg, was Organic all natural Candy Canes.... Afterall,  What is more silly then Christmas Candy in October???  Just love this box!!

Veg was soooo excited "Thanks Mom, this is the best candy ever"  BUT - he says... "Remember last year when you made me a really nice bowl for my candy?  Why didn't you do that this time?" 

Well Phooey!!  He remembers the one thing I forgot.... So I get him in the shower then run around to find a decoratable container...  Thanks to my Crafty Friend.. I had some recipe boxes lying around...

One of them is now officially a Silly Apple Pumpkin Box:

With candy canes inside:

Eventually it is time for dinner.... I was so busy with everything else, that I didn't bother to make a good dinner, but I had to make something that was Silly! and something that was Apple'ish..... 

Fried Apples did the trick, although didn't come out as good as I imagined they would, Veg really liked them... He said they were chewy like gum.. ha ha... Not exactly the texture I was going for:

And this Guys name is Chief Silly Face:

I also made these.. Peanut Butter and Chocolate bars but they are cooling in the fridge right now...  Those aren't really Pumpkin or Apple'ish, but they sure do look good!!  ha ha... And they will give Veg some "Peanut Butter Cup" type candy when he wakes in the morning, to show him that not going trick 'o treating isn't so bad after all....  Ooh is he excited for those.. (so am I, by the way)

And so our Day comes to an end!!  My Veg Man went to sleep as happy as can be and just before heading off he says.. "I know we don't celebrate Halloween, but I'm sure glad we celebrate Silly Apply Pumpkin Day"

Sheww... Mission Complete!!!

LIGHT LUNCH TODAY

Well its been since May that my guy had a Food reaction... We hoped that he was outgrowing this, and even more so that we had it completely under control.. 

Until last night, when we had our 3am wake up call with the scream, the pain and the cyclical vomiting that followed... Thankfully we kept it to 2.5 hours this time... And he was able to sleep off the migraine for a few more hours before waking up normal and happy as can be.... 

I took him to school "late" Yup another tardy slip!  *sigh*  But he made it before lunch, so I sent him with something light on his tummy just in case.

Cinnamon Toast, Banana, Apple Sauce, and Oyster crackers....

I'm going to hope that this is an isolated incident...  As the cycle can sometimes be daunting. 

There was a small piece of cheesy stuff given to Veg before Bed that I think was the culprit... I won't make mention of who gave him such a thing, but I will say that this person still claims that a little bit can't hurt.

Let me tell you, when you hear your child screaming in pain and crying for his body to make it stop.... for over two hours in the middle of the night... even a little bit CAN HURT!!! 

I'm sad for my guy that he goes through this and at the same time, I'm so thankful that it isn't something worse... I'm thankful that he mostly eats a Vegan, natural, preservative, free diet anyway or we'd really be in a pickle.  

As I sit awake with him on nights like this,  I think about other parents that go through so many things so many times worse and wish I could take away all of their hurt.  I think about those parents and children and find myself feeling selfish for being sad for my child because his goes away each time.

And at the end of these nights, I wish I had half his strength and even a quarter of his ability to bounce back from troubled times.  He's such an amazing young man and I'm very proud to be his Mom.

Update:  Hubby picked Veg up early today from school and I was told that he didn't want to leave, he was feeling great and ate his entire lunch.  They also went to dinner before driving home... And he is playing happily.  So all is well.... This piece of the cycle is complete.

If your child experiences middle of the night pain and vomit attacks, don't let doctors make you feel like your crazy... There can be something wrong.  And there is stuff you can do to not make it worse.

For those looking for more information on what my guy is dealing with you can look up info on Cyclical Vomiting or Abdominal Migraines.. His are more Migraine related but they are very similar.

THEM FRIES

Veg popped a sudden earache last night. When I thought about what he ate, I remembered fries from a fast food chain. (Yes I stopped for gas and let him have fries...horrible me)

So I check the ingredient list on their website...GRRR... The second ingredient was Dairy then wheat..read on down the list and their is artificial sweetener and chemicals, and...UGH!!! I thought they were just fries. Potatoes for petesake! A Safe food as far as fast food goes.. Besides the fried parts I mean.

But I was wrong...for those of you with dairy or wheat allergies, beware of the FRY!

ABDOMINAL MIGRAINES?

If you've been reading this silly blog for very long, you will know that we are back to experiencing early morning Vomit Visits from our little guy.  Friday was another one, getting us to the 14 day mark.  I've been keeping a journal and we are now up to about every 8 to 14 days.....  We have eliminated the foods that are definite triggers, but have been stumped by this latest bout of attacks.

Even with my food journal, we have found very few consistencies.  The Friday bucket visit lasted longer then some others and he was miserable and crying in pain more so then in times past.  This one also left him groggy and tired much of the day, where the others did not.  But he's been fine since, as if nothing ever happened....  Before we make it to the next 14 day mark, I've reached out to the local Moms and asked for some help....  I was beginning to think it is a problem with digesting proteins...(milk, chicken and now beans)  and am still not totally ruling that out.... But....

Two of the Moms spoke up about Abdominal Migraines.  I've never known such a thing existed... But it does, and totally fits some of his symptoms.  (not all of them fit our Veg, but the vomiting fits twice a month and skin color changes do).....

Problem being, the only diagnosis is testing all other possibilities first.  If they all come up negative then they default to the migraines as the cause.  And I don't really want him going through all that.  So my thought is treat the migraines naturally and if they go away, then we know that is the cause?  If not, then back to square one...  But with this new information and a couple weeks of journaling under my belt, I can go to our family doc and ask his opinions....

The other problem is, I'm back to looking for triggers.....  The only good thing is, this would offer up some new triggers to look for.  Like Peanuts and pickles which I didn't originally associate either of them to this problem.  Also smells can cause these, or other environmental things.....

Sooooo, I'm back to the drawing board, but at least I'm a tad closer to an answer... Thanks to those Mom's for getting me hunting in a different direction.

RED DYE - THE ICK FACTOR

While researching some rare allergens, I came across some very interesting info on Red Food Dye...  If you don't want to know... then don't read past this line!

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For those of you that dropped below the line, be warned!!  What I'm about to type may have you looking at food labels as much as I do...

There are different kinds of Red Dye's, but the commonly used ones in our foods, cosmetics, etc... are derived from either Coal or the Carcasses of a Beetle.  Yum Yum... Makes me want to go grab a dye filled treat...

Its true by the way, even Snopes says so!