Fun Times

On Saturday night we had a special movie night. I totally stole this idea from a friend of mine, but it was a good idea.One of my favorite children's books is Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. Just recently they turned it into a movie. It is now on DVD. The boys hadn't been introduced to the book because it was all about food...food they can't eat. BUT, my friend mentioned that one of the main characters in the movie has an allergy to peanuts and actually goes into anaphalactic shock during the movie. As soon as I read about this I just HAD to see it. Would this be a chance to teach the boys about their allergies? Maybe!Jason and I watched the movie on Friday night to make sure it was okay. By far I like the book better, but the movie wasn't bad. We were nervous about Owen getting a little scared at parts and not really understanding a lot of it, but in the end decided to move forward with our plans.To kick off the movie event we had a spaghetti dinner. This was a HUGE deal because it was Adam's first time trying tomato. Adam loves angel hair pasta. Of course it has to be organic, and he won't eat the whole wheat kind, but we're just excited that he's eating pasta at all. Prego Traditional Spaghetti Sauce is 100% all natural and safe for Adam to eat. Instead of ground beef we used all natural ground turkey seasoned with rosemary. I wasn't sure if Adam would eat the ground turkey, just because he's tried it plain before and didn't like it but on this occasion...He LOVED everything! And the best news of all... NO ALLERGIC REACTIONS!!! Tomatoes are a go!

We are so excited to be able to add tomatoes to Adam's safe food list. It opens up so many possibilities. Last week Adam tried black beans. He loved them and NO ALLERGIC REACTIONS!!! Not every food we've introduced lately has gone over this well. Garbanzo beans are definitely out. With the addition black beans and tomatoes to Adam's diet it appears that we'll be having lots of Italian dishes without cheese and Mexican dishes without cumin and cheese. We're excited!Owen refused the Spaghetti dinner of course and ate his usual chicken nuggets, but wanted Mommy to take a picture of him too, just like Adam, so I did. He even smiled for me!After our spaghetti dinner I popped popcorn and we put in the movie. It was so much fun watching it together as a family.Adam dumped his popcorn all over the living room and then was sure to step on it all and even crumble it with his hands. Owen sat in his seat the whole time and watched the movie. He did get a little scared at some parts. Watching a movie about food was an eye opener. I realized that Owen doesn't even know what a cheese burger is. That was just the beginning. He did understand the concept that too much sweets will make you sick (like one of the characters), and when it came to the character with a peanut allergies he exclaimed, "Peanut butter doesn't make me sick Mommy!" He's right. It doesn't. So we talked about the foods that do. Owen definitely doesn't understand his allergies yet, but he's starting to grasp bits and pieces of the concept. I'm excited! Awareness is everything for him!

As far as Adam is concerned... We've have three consecutive nights of Adam eating what Jason and I eat or some variation of it. The first night was spaghetti, the second night allergy friendly pancakes, and then tonight he had kidney bean casserole without the cheese and broccoli. I couldn't be happier! (The kidney beans unfortunately didn't work out. There was an allergic reaction.) Still every success means everything!