Thursday, March 6, 2008

A Good Peanut Free Day

When I picked up Bella from daycare today, her teacher pulled me aside.

She proceeded to tell me how they were making a collage today, with all sorts of pictures cut out of magazines, that they glued to construction paper. This week is "N" week, so each picture had to do with that letter.

Apparently, while they were busy sorting and pasting, Bella turned one of her photos and told her teacher, "These are almonds. I can't eat these." Just matter-of-fact.

Her teacher was quite impressed that she could identify something beyond peanut butter. She's never had a PA or TNA kid in her class (and she's been teaching for a long time) who could do this. Most can recite what they are allergic to, but can't pick them out of a lineup.

Bella looked so proud of herself.

I couldn't help but beam a little too. My little PA genius.

(And no, I don't sit and make her memorize flash cards of different nuts)

4 comments:

juliey said...

I have a six year old PA/TNA son. I found out three years ago when I was about 6 months pregnant with my daughter. Your peanut free parent meeting sounds wonderful--I wish I could find something like that in MI. I'm enjoying your blog though, I think parents that have a child with an allergy like this have so many similar experiences, it can be very isolating. Anyway, when my son was younger I would take him to the grocery store just to find nut products--both the obvious and hidden. I figured that it would be much harder to avoid something if he didn't know what it looked like.

Unknown said...

Good for her! And good for you too; you're doing a great job helping her navigate her world.

Nicole said...

That is GREAT NEWS! At the end of the day, we have to trust our children to manage these allergies on their own. You are doing a great job yourself!

Anonymous said...

Hi there,

I just happened upon your site and I'm so glad I did!

You must be soooo proud of your daughter! I'm in the process of 'teaching' my 2.5 year old daughter about her food allergies and she always amazes me with what she remembers. She even remembers some of her older two brothers food allergies as well...

I just wanted to mention a product that I found helpful for my kids who are school aged... more for teachers and friends than my kids. The are food allergy labels from www.christa.mabel.ca. They are fantastic! They create awareness about food allergies and also act as a constant reminder to older kids (my oldest are in 2/3 grade) and to teachers and caregivers as well. The labels allow room for multiple food allergies and are completely dishwasher and microwave safe. They also have numerous cute icons your daughter would probably love! CJ

www.christa.mabel.ca