Did I blink sometime late September and catapult two months into the future? Whoa. Where did October go? For that matter, November? And, at the same time I feel like it’s been a looong season with so much activity that I can’t keep up. Since my last post, we’ve celebrated a few birthdays, suffered our share of childhood sicknesses and remodeled our first floor bathroom. Oh yeah, and I organized and sponsored another Recycle Circle that was somehow exciting, relaxing and productive all in one clip.

At the beginning of Autumn, I threw a big party for my two year old to which she wore an awesome green and white polka-dotted dress complements of her Daddy. Our little dancer twirled and played and had enough fun for all of us combined. I served a mostly vegetarian menu to a tough crowd—my uncles are, um, picky. But, I was satisfied to watch as whole platters were devoured. Not the plates… And, it’s worth mentioning that I managed to offer to our littlest guests inexpensive party treats that did not include corn syrup sweetened candy or trinkets labeled Made in China. I think I was motivated as much by the nearly impossible challenge as I was the obvious benefits. I don’t think anyone else noticed…and really, why would they?

Last month, my four year old celebrated his October birthday with a party at a local kid’s indoor jungle gym fun place. The staff was graciously willing to cater to our vegetarian, junk food-free diet, and I was thrilled to bring my own cake. It was a costume party during which the host proudly donned his red and blue Spiderman suit and—along with several other four-foot-tall super-heroes—fought crime, slung webs and devoured a moist and sweet Spidey confection. We had a blast.

That is, until I realized that there may be a correlation between consumption of foods containing eggs (including baked goods) and the amount of diapers I’ve been changing*. During the last two months, my two year old has had multiple bouts of vomiting and diarrhea—the first two of which I attributed to those unapologetic viruses that prey on the pre-K set. But, I became increasingly concerned about food allergies as coincidences became gradually difficult to overlook. Her last two incidences occurred directly after (1) eating a bite or two of my mom’s first attempt at crème brulee (which was spot on delicious) and only four days later (2) a few licks of ice cream at my niece’s third b-day party. After this last time her reaction was by far the worst. She was totally miserable and got to the point where she has been self potty training in response to the discomfort and frequency of, well, you get the idea. It’s not pretty. She was unable to sit down, laying only on her belly for two days. Despite the fact that I spend 24 hours a day with her, I have been proud to witness a developing side of her spirit: a brave, no non-nonsense, rolling with the punches attitude that quite frankly has me wondering about those crocodile tears shed when sharing her crayons is at issue.

So far she’s had one food-allergy blood screen and is scheduled for an allergy skin test mid-December. Until then, our family’s lacto-ovo veg diet has morphed into veganism. I’m actually having fun re-discovering some of the vegan recipes that were in a more regular rotation during my twenties. To that end, for fun I’ve begun to post my veg family of four menus—mostly dinners. Also, I’ve been compiling a list of some of our lunchtime menus at things to feed a vegetarian kid for lunch. (Friendly nod to Maggie Mason)

For a discussion of egg allergy basics as well as other parenting fundamentals, Kid’s Health makes an effort to be informative while keeping it simple.

*And, in case anyone who regularly reads these pages is wondering:
Due to the multiple bouts of sickness my two year old has been experiencing, no, I do not use cloth diapers anymore. There is no way that my bleeding liberal heart could possibly withstand it. Sure, I love the earth. But—at more than one soiled diaper an hour in some cases— the issue of being “saved” became less about the planet and more about our sanity.

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