Grapes, Day Four

I recently bought a new book in order to better understand these food allergies. In it, the author writes about how children are specifically susceptible to certain groups of foods. For example, her son had lots of physical symptoms when eating meat, specifically beef and pork.

I wonder if Asher may have difficulties with fruit.

On Thursday night and Friday, Asher gobbled down grapes like crazy. He just couldn't get enough of them. Saturday, he said they were yucky and wouldn't touch them. Yucky? Is that a three-year old way of saying that he doesn't feel well when he eats them? Because they certainly aren't yucky in the true sense of the word.

Sunday, today, we went to Whole Foods and bought some pure grape juice. He drank it down happily. Then, about a half-hour later, he complained of a tummy ache, doubled over on the floor in pain, and spent the next few hours on the toilet with gastric distress. Yes, that's yucky.

Millet and Grapes

Asher is making these food trials seem easy. We've declared millet a success.

Asher chose grapes for his next food trial and he started eating them tonight. Both boys gobbled up a lot of grapes before bedtime.

Beginning a food trial always makes me nervous. Before we started on this food trialing journey, we knew that there was something in Asher's diet to which he was allergic. We just didn't know what it was. So every time we add a new food back, I wonder, is this the food? And with each food trial success, I breathe a sigh of relief, but then the list of potential foods which caused the reaction gets narrower. It makes me wonder when we will hit the allergen. Hopefully it won't be grapes.

School Bus Ride

On Friday, Simi rode the bus to school. He loved it and enjoyed the ride. I managed not to cry as I walked off the bus and left him there. It sounds like he did great, too. He said that when he got off the bus, he walked into the school but felt lost (I think they enter the school from a different location when getting off the school bus), so he asked a teacher. The teacher guided him the right way. Phew!

Simi was enjoying his time in after-school care when I arrived to pick him up. He wanted to stay for a bit to play on the playground and excitedly showed me what he earned from the treasure box for not having his fish moved this week (your fish gets moved if you behave poorly).

I think we're all getting the hang of this elementary school thing.

Kindergarten - Day One

Wednesday was Simi's first day of kindergarten. We didn't let him ride the school bus. Instead, I drove him to school and walked him to his classroom, with video camera in hand. We joined the many other parents and grand-parents who were walking their own first-day kindergarteners to their classrooms with their video cameras in hand.

Simi knew the way to his classroom - found it with no problem. His teacher was at the door with a big smile on her face, greeting all the new students and their parents. Simi found his desk, met the only new child he hasn't yet met, but was more engrossed in the two pieces of paper lying on the desk. One was a connect the dots (a-z-A-Z) and the other was a "find the hidden words in the big block of letters on the page". Both of these things are some of Simi's favourite things to do and he was thrilled. In fact, he was so engrossed in the work that he barely even said good-bye to me. I don't think he even looked at me as I said good-bye and just kinda waved me away. OK then.

So, I walked back toward the door, said good-bye to his teacher, and just started bawling my eyes out. I was totally unprepared for the wave of emotion that hit so hard. Simi didn't see; he was still too engrossed in his work. The teacher gave me a big hug and suggested I stay as long as I want, but I left. Simi was fine and it was better that he didn't see me crying.

All of us went to pick him up at the end of the day. Simi was in after-school care. He was in the art room with his fellow kindergarteners and first-graders doing an art project. It seemed like good care and he seemed to be having a good time. And then, instead of going to swim class, we all came home, had dinner together and had a low-key evening. He told us all about his first day and admitted that he, too, was a little scared. Phew, he's normal!

Simi really wants to ride the school bus. Raj says, "OK, you can ride the school bus. And I'll be driving behind it." I think he's not kidding. We both tell Simi that he needs to be able to carry his own book bag, and until that happens, we'll be driving him to school. So, we'll see when he actually does ride the school bus.

School Open House

Simi's new school held an open house so that Simi can meet his new teachers and fellow students. Simi was absolutely thrilled. I wish I captured the look on his face when he walked toward the building and then into it - he had a huge smile and a spring in his step. He's so ready to take this next step.

All of us love his new teachers. Simi formed an instant friendship with a boy in his same "desk grouping". They hugged each other and ran around exploring the room together. Then we walked down the hall to show the two new friends the location of the library, cafeteria, office, and how to get to his room from the front door.

We returned from the open house just in time for Simi's graduation from pre-school. They wore paper motarboards - complete with tassels on them - and received a diploma and a present (a photo of the children who graduated with him - and they signed their names on the wooden frame. It's absolutely beautiful!).

Simi is officially done with pre-school and is moving on to elementary school. I just wish his parents were as ready for this transition as Simi!

Cauliflower and Millet

Oh, and by the way, we're declaring cauliflower a success and have moved on to millet. Millet is a low-allergenic grain which is a good source of iron and potentially a flour we can use in baking.

Swimming Fun

We have been having a manic summer - going from work to swim lessons four evenings a week for the boys. Raj and I got our satisfaction when we saw Simi swimming the width of the pool on his own. What a beautiful sight!

Asher is doing great in his own swim class. He's putting his head under the water regularly now and blowing bubbles in the water and jumping in. They're both loving it.

And we're loving watching them progress with their new skills...

Kindergartener Simi

Simi is starting a new phase in his life. He is leaving pre-school and all the friends he has had for his entire life and starting elementary school. Simi is going to Kindergarten.

Simi couldn't be more ready. He's so incredibly excited to go.

He got his kindergarten medical check-up and vaccines. He got his "ready for school" haircut. He chose some new school clothes. He rode the school bus for practice and learned all about school bus safety. On Friday, he gets to meet his new teacher and his fellow students.

It doesn't even matter to him that he's going somewhere completely new where he knows no one. He's ready. He's so incredibly excited and thrilled.

Simi was chosen for the K/1 combination class. That means that 10 of the students in the class are in kindergarten and the remaining 10 are in 1st grade. They stay in that class for two years. Simi and I had already met and spoke with his new head teacher and we both really like her a lot. I don't think we've met the assistant teacher; we'll meet her on Friday.

Simi is going to a year-round school. He goes to school for nine weeks, then he gets three weeks of vacation. He's used to going to school year-round, and the three week break seems humane to us. It gives us a chance to take family vacations throughout the year (not just once during the summer). We all like that.

And now Simi starts school on July 18th!

Bacon, Cauliflower, and T-ball

With Day Five of the bacon trial safely behind us, and since bacon is so closely related to pork, we decided to take the risk and move forward swiftly with the food trials. We added one of Asher's favorites: cauliflower. Beginning yesterday, Asher has begun to eat one of his favorite dishes: cauliflower and potatoes. Cauliflower is high on the food allergy scale, so I'm a bit nervous.

If he passes the cauliflower food trial, his diet will be very close to what it was before we started this process. Let's hope that apple is the only thing we need to remove from his diet....

Yesterday, we had our second t-ball practice. Raj and I were a little more prepared this time. I had done some Web surfing and found some great information to guide us through coaching t-ball. Raj and I shared the information, talked about a few things, then implemented all this stuff on the field. Some of it worked, some needs tweaking, but we're getting better at this coaching thing. But the most important thing is that the children seemed to have a good time and to be learning how to play t-ball. Phew!

One of the most rewarding moments on Asher's team was with a three-year old named Olivia. This was Olivia's second practice and she couldn't have been more terrified. She arrived sucking on three fingers, her arms wrapped around her and her head down. As her mum pushed her toward the crowd of pre-schoolers, tears dropped from her eyes.

Our first drill was to run around the bases. Since I was the only coach for the team, I asked one of the parents to help. The parent lead the team around the bases while I brought up the rear. There was Olivia, trying desperately to make her way back to her mum. I gently took her arm and with a gentle bit of persuasion, I coaxed her to run the bases with me. And that's how we began the practice.

With each drill, I had to gently coax Olivia further and further. At the end of the practice, I actually saw a smile on Olivia's face; she was enjoying herself! And she even joined the rest of the team as we put our hands together, raised them up and cheered "White Tigers!"

One of the negatives of coaching is that I'm so wrapped up in working with all the children that I don't get to see Asher play. I saw him hit the ball off the tee once, and he can run the bases really well, but that's all I managed to see.

I look forward to next week's t-ball session.