I just read an article online about an eighth-grader in Lexington, Ky., who "was arrested Sunday on felony wanton endangerment charges for allegedly putting peanut butter cookie crumbs in the lunch box of a classmate with a severe peanut allergy. A recent report of a 13-year-old spiking his peanut-allergic classmate's lunch may highlight a dangerous gap in food allergy education in schools, experts say. A student in Kentucky has been charged with a felony for contaminating an food-allergic child's lunch with peanuts."(ABCNEWS) Here's the link to the story: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AllergiesNews/story?id=4697036&page=1
Then I found another link to a story of an eight-year-old boy who just died in February from his peanut allergy. Here's the link to the story--you can read it and/or watch the video:
http://tristatehomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=5678
Matthew's school stopped making peanut butter cookies for school lunches when Matthew started kindergarten there last year. Matthew came home distressed at the beginning of this school year when one of his close friends kept showing up next to him at lunchtime with a peanut butter sandwich. He used to break out in hives if he was even touched by someone who had eaten peanut butter. Now, he's not quite as sensitive... it doesn't seem to affect him unless he actually eats something with peanut butter in it.
Matthew is usually very cautious--ever since he was a toddler he would ask others "Does this have peanut butter in it?" He even asks me that, and I'm his own mother. Of course I wouldn't feed him something with peanut butter in it. He's very smart about asking, but the one time he did go into anaphalactic shock--his tongue and throat swelled up immediately, he couldn't swallow, couldn't breathe, and I had to stick him with an EpiPen. (And the poor boy is terribly afraid of needles). That was summer of 2006 when he ate what appeared to be a chocolate brownie that someone had made with peanut butter in it. From that experience, we know just how allergic Matthew is to peanuts: deathly.
Unfortunately, most people don't understand that. Church socials are the worst threat--so much activity, kids everywhere, lots of food, and people always bring stuff with peanut butter in it, no matter how many times we tell them of Matt's allergy. When he was a toddler, I found him at one social about to be given some treat from an elderly gentleman who was just trying to be nice and share his dessert with him. I caught him right in time--the treat had nuts in it. I've requested numerous times that people label their potluck dishes with food allergy information, but I usually have to case the whole place, tracking down who made what food so I can ask them if there are any peanut products in it. Moral of the story, if someone around you mentions having any food allergy, especially a nut allergy, take it seriously. As the second article said,
"Dr. Hugh Windom, an associate professor at the University of South Florida, said "Even the most aware children and adults could use the watchful eye of a peer who's educated about their allergy." Windom says it's easy to bite into a brownie with nuts, or another food with an allergen.
"These kids don't have a sixth sense, they don't know where peanuts are at all times."
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Congrats to Russ!
I started up my blog last week, but then I didn't tell anybody about it. So, now I've finally emailed friends and family to invite you guys to view the blog. Since I put alot of pictures of my kids on here, I don't want just anybody out there to be able to have access to it. That's why you have to log in to see it.
Big news for the week--It was a good week for Russ. He won the Company Grade Officer of the Quarter award for his squadron! Finally getting some recognition for being such a great guy and officer. He always goes the extra mile, but you won't see him hanging around the squadron bar on Friday nights with the guys. As many of you know from experience, that can definitely affect the career of a military officer. So, we're glad they appreciate him for what he does at work and not for his social life. He spends whatever extra time he has at home with his family, or doing church work. Like today, he spent hours cleaning the house and watching the kids so I could exercise and rest. And that was...after he spent four hours at the gym playing racquetball. Which leads me to the next tidbit: Russ won the Wing Racquetball Tournament today! The new wing commander, LtCol Doucette, was one of the people he had to beat. Now he wants Russ to call his secretary to schedule time to play with him.
Ethan went to a friend's birthday party today. Matthew wanted to give a present to one of his friends as well, so he wrote a card "From Matt, to Jacob Beineke: Thanks for being my friend." Then we dropped it off at Jacob's house. Nevermind that it's not Jacob's birthday. Matthew just loves to give gifts to people, and since I do too, I had a hard time denying him. We want to encourage any positive traits. And really, Matthew has been doing much better in school now than he was at the beginning of the year. He's been off all meds since December. Those meds were making him so much more emotional, irritable, violent, moody and unpredictable--even though they were supposed to help with those very things. So, our next course of action is to try some herbal remedies. I borrowed a book about Dr. Christopher's Herbal Home Health Care from a friend of ours.
Matthew has been on half-days at school for the past few months, but now he's doing so well that we're extending it by an hour, until we build up to full days again. It's funny, the teacher sent home a note a couple of weeks ago saying "I know it's strange for a teacher to complain about this, but all Matthew does is read." He often gets bored in class and refuses to do the work, instead holing up under the teacher's desk and reading books. He is reading at a 3.5 level (meaning at the level of a child half-way through third grade) even though he is a first grader. Both his teacher last year, this year and the principal have nominated him for the Gifted/Talented program. They'll do testing in a while. I'll be interested to see what the come up with for his IQ. He is such an intelligent person--we love his thirst for learning.
Ethan is also smart, although I worry that his potential goes unrealized much of the time due to being in Matthew's shadow. I'm starting to work with him doing some pre-reading and math activities. He attends pre-school for a couple of hours three days a week, but that is mostly for him to interact with the other kids and give me a few hours respite from boys so I can get some errands done. With Matt coming home on half-days and my own energy level ever-fluctuating, it's difficult to keep up with everything that needs to be done to run a household. That's why Russ helps clean so much on Saturdays. Or whenever he can, really. I'm lucky to have such a helpful husband.
Lizzie is teething and is at the stage in which she does not want to be out of my sight. If I even put her down so I can use the restroom or leave the room for a second, she starts crying. So, I'm holding her alot these days. It's funny, to see those big crocodile tears that stop as soon as I pick her up again. You know, funny but slightly annoying. She's starting to babble this week. She says "Da-da" and makes growling and gurgling noises. She is a LOT like Matthew was as a baby, and looks like him too. Cautious, startles easily, lots of smiles for family but just looks on seriously at strangers. Loves to listen to me talk or sing, and moves her tongue around in her mouth like she's playing with it, practicing for making new noises. Matthew did that too. Ethan was much more physical and still is. In fact, yesterday I overheard him saying to himself after he got himself a drink of water, "I have big muscles, and they're going to get bigger." He's often heard telling Matthew that if he doesn't eat his food, he's not going to grow big and strong. Ethan loves to eat. Popcorn is his favorite treat food. He does have asthma though.
Okay, now I'm rambling. Time to get to bed. Russ has PEC in the morning (Priesthood Executive Committee) and he's giving the training for it. I have to get the kids ready for church by myself (no easy task for anyone, but just try it with a Matthew!!!). Our new goal is to get to church early. At least ten minutes early. For the rest of our lives.
Val, signing out.
Big news for the week--It was a good week for Russ. He won the Company Grade Officer of the Quarter award for his squadron! Finally getting some recognition for being such a great guy and officer. He always goes the extra mile, but you won't see him hanging around the squadron bar on Friday nights with the guys. As many of you know from experience, that can definitely affect the career of a military officer. So, we're glad they appreciate him for what he does at work and not for his social life. He spends whatever extra time he has at home with his family, or doing church work. Like today, he spent hours cleaning the house and watching the kids so I could exercise and rest. And that was...after he spent four hours at the gym playing racquetball. Which leads me to the next tidbit: Russ won the Wing Racquetball Tournament today! The new wing commander, LtCol Doucette, was one of the people he had to beat. Now he wants Russ to call his secretary to schedule time to play with him.
Ethan went to a friend's birthday party today. Matthew wanted to give a present to one of his friends as well, so he wrote a card "From Matt, to Jacob Beineke: Thanks for being my friend." Then we dropped it off at Jacob's house. Nevermind that it's not Jacob's birthday. Matthew just loves to give gifts to people, and since I do too, I had a hard time denying him. We want to encourage any positive traits. And really, Matthew has been doing much better in school now than he was at the beginning of the year. He's been off all meds since December. Those meds were making him so much more emotional, irritable, violent, moody and unpredictable--even though they were supposed to help with those very things. So, our next course of action is to try some herbal remedies. I borrowed a book about Dr. Christopher's Herbal Home Health Care from a friend of ours.
Matthew has been on half-days at school for the past few months, but now he's doing so well that we're extending it by an hour, until we build up to full days again. It's funny, the teacher sent home a note a couple of weeks ago saying "I know it's strange for a teacher to complain about this, but all Matthew does is read." He often gets bored in class and refuses to do the work, instead holing up under the teacher's desk and reading books. He is reading at a 3.5 level (meaning at the level of a child half-way through third grade) even though he is a first grader. Both his teacher last year, this year and the principal have nominated him for the Gifted/Talented program. They'll do testing in a while. I'll be interested to see what the come up with for his IQ. He is such an intelligent person--we love his thirst for learning.
Ethan is also smart, although I worry that his potential goes unrealized much of the time due to being in Matthew's shadow. I'm starting to work with him doing some pre-reading and math activities. He attends pre-school for a couple of hours three days a week, but that is mostly for him to interact with the other kids and give me a few hours respite from boys so I can get some errands done. With Matt coming home on half-days and my own energy level ever-fluctuating, it's difficult to keep up with everything that needs to be done to run a household. That's why Russ helps clean so much on Saturdays. Or whenever he can, really. I'm lucky to have such a helpful husband.
Lizzie is teething and is at the stage in which she does not want to be out of my sight. If I even put her down so I can use the restroom or leave the room for a second, she starts crying. So, I'm holding her alot these days. It's funny, to see those big crocodile tears that stop as soon as I pick her up again. You know, funny but slightly annoying. She's starting to babble this week. She says "Da-da" and makes growling and gurgling noises. She is a LOT like Matthew was as a baby, and looks like him too. Cautious, startles easily, lots of smiles for family but just looks on seriously at strangers. Loves to listen to me talk or sing, and moves her tongue around in her mouth like she's playing with it, practicing for making new noises. Matthew did that too. Ethan was much more physical and still is. In fact, yesterday I overheard him saying to himself after he got himself a drink of water, "I have big muscles, and they're going to get bigger." He's often heard telling Matthew that if he doesn't eat his food, he's not going to grow big and strong. Ethan loves to eat. Popcorn is his favorite treat food. He does have asthma though.
Okay, now I'm rambling. Time to get to bed. Russ has PEC in the morning (Priesthood Executive Committee) and he's giving the training for it. I have to get the kids ready for church by myself (no easy task for anyone, but just try it with a Matthew!!!). Our new goal is to get to church early. At least ten minutes early. For the rest of our lives.
Val, signing out.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Hoppy Easter!
Well, here we all are...Easter 2008.
I did a lot of edits on this picture. Want to see the original?
Can you find all the differences? Well, main things are that I liked the beautiful greenery on the trees. It all speaks of spring and easter and new beginnings. But, these trees are sprouting like antlers out of mine and Russ' heads. So I got rid of all that.
This was Lizzie's first Easter, so she came along with us and this is what she saw...Ethan and Matthew riding their bikes in the Easter Parade.
They were all supposed to decorate their bikes for this, but we found out about it at the last minute. Russ and I went on a date Friday night and the kids stayed home with my friend Betsy from next door. Matthew decorated his BigWheel by taping plastic toy dinosaurs all over it. It was hideous and awesome. It looked exactly like what you would expect a six-year-old boy's decorations to look like. Ethan and William (their friend and Betsy's son) taped cotton balls to the seats of their bikes for tails and then drew all over them with chalk. Unfortunately, we woke up the next morning and found the rain had washed away all the chalk, which brought a new torrent of tears from our four-year-old. So, we quickly came up with this replacement: I wrapped some extra batting around his bike and cut a bunny's head and ears out of foam board, drew a face on, gave it a pink scrubbie for a nose and stuck toy duckies in the spokes.
Cute Lizzie.
Ethan and Matt on the pony ride.
Patience Hedgpeth, or "Paitie", is my friend Betsy's 8 month old daughter. We see them almost every day, especially since they live right next door. Paitie is such a sweet little baby, and she is so smiley. Beautiful too, just like a little doll. She and Lizzie like to hold each others hands when they're next to each other. And grab each other's faces.
Lizzie was just tired and hungry. She said, "Mom, I don't care about Easter eggs. I just want to lay down in my crib and sleep. And eat. And sleep. And eat..." Look at the photo magic I did on this picture.
Matt and Ethan were only willing to pose for a picture with Sparky the Fire Dog with the promise of letting them eat the candy from one of their eggs. Speaking of fire safety, Russ just sent me a news clip about how kids don't wake up to the loud beeping of regular fire alarms. There are new alarms coming out this month that parents can record their voices on, calling their kids names and it works a lot better. I am putting the video clip on my post, but I think it will end up at the bottom of the page. I'm still figuring out how to move stuff around on here.
Ethan, willing to sit with the Easter Bunny, but only after being offered a treat. Why are kids afraid of these things, but once you mention candy they lose all fear? The lady taking pictures got him to smile by asking him if he had any teeth, so he would show her. Hmmm, it worked.
Here is Matt, opening the first egg after the hunt. That is his excited face.
Guess who is starting solid foods now? Lizzie just turned six months old on March 20th, and we've begun giving her yummy new things, like green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots and bananas. So far, she likes them all except for the peas. I love frozen sweet peas myself, but I tasted these baby food peas and it is like eating mushed up canned peas. Gross. I don't blame her for not liking it.
Anyway, bye for now. Not bad for my second post.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
First post in a year!
This is at the Fall Festival at Laughlin AFB, TX last October. Lizzie is a few weeks old.
When Russ gets home from work, he greets everybody, but he loves to pick up Lizzie. She just loves her daddy. And everybody loves her.
Ethan, William (neighbor, best friend), & Matthew hold up the wall hangings they designed and Val sewed. The wall hangings are part of a church humanitarian service project to give each baby in third world orphanages something to look at to stimulate their brains.
Matthew put these glasses on the baby. The boys are so funny. They are always dressing up in their spiderman costumes. And they love to smother the baby with kisses.
Monday, February 20, 2006
My first blog
Okay, I was inspired by my sister-in-law Nikki to create a blog. We'll see if I have time to do it. I do have two little boys and many other interests. Plus, I don't know who I would really want reading a "diary" type entry everyday. I'll think about it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
