Highlights
- Calan turns 7!
- Another big Long Beach trip, to include the biggest food challenge yet
- We take a trip to the Moxi Museum of Exploration + Innovation
- Tee-ball season wraps up for Evan
This year, August marks the year of the great solar eclipse for North America. And just as the Earth continues to revolve around the sun, bringing about new seasons; so too do our lives cycle through seasons of change. A new birthday for Calan and the always welcome return of Gran and Grandpa make early August extra special. It also bids farewell to Coach Lynn and our four-days a week swim lessons. We also concluded Evan’s first tee-ball season and got a little crazy with peanut eating as we ended the month on a high note, successfully challenging Calan with the highest dose of peanuts ever: 75 in one sitting.
The Moxi Museum
This month we also visited a science and exploration museum called Moxi, in Santa Barbara. The place is designed for anyone intrigued with the intersection of science and technology and interacting with it. The boys definitely had fun in this hands-on learning environment. Evan, especially had free reign to touch and interact with everything there. Their favorites included building their own pinewood derby cars and racing them down a long and highly elevated track. They also loved constructing abstract sculptures with large wooden pieces that fit together in ways that require some creativity. Calan built a big cave out of large cardboard blocks. The pneumatic systems that blow objects through a maze of transparent tubes was also a hit. The rooftop of the museum building provided a “garden” of scientific displays involving water and sound with an amazing birdseye view of Santa Barbara. There were truly countless exhibits and activities the kids could do to feed their curiosity freely. We were impressed with how clean and organized it all was, with surprises around every corner that captured your eye…and mind. From physics and geology, to fun technology and music, there really is so much within that you could easily spend the whole day there. We especially enjoyed following the kids, watching them interact and exploring each exhibit together. Their curiosity muscles really got some exercise on that day.
Long Beach Trip
It wouldn’t be accurate to talk about this month’s Long Beach trip without actually calling it two trips…And these trips had to be back-to-back. To be more precise, Mama and Evan had to do two trips down to Dr. R’s because it was Evan’s turn to wear the overnight allergy patch. Wearing this patch on his back with all of his known allergens pressed against his skin for 24 hours is an additional data source that Dr. R can use to better assess the degree of Evan’s individual food allergies. Calan did this as well. The patch itself isn’t too bad (except if it becomes itchy), but the logistics of being in Long Beach two consecutive days definitely takes some planning…patience and energy on everyone’s part. For Calan in 2015, we had stayed the night. This time, it was just easier for Mama and Evan to go down on a Thursday morning, then head down as a family the next day. Needless to say, Mama had quite a couple days, when you throw in having to teach Thursday evening. It all worked out though, and Evan successfully wore the patch, giving Dr. R and his staff some informative results. Naturally, some of these results were hard to look at for poor Evan. Egg, in particular always “lights up” pretty big, with a large, round red blotch. Evan received plenty of cortisone cream to help his skin feel better.
On the second day, after the patch was removed and analyzed, it came time for each of the boys to do a food challenge. For Evan, he kicked off a challenge with something related to wheat. For this one, it was buckwheat. The idea again is that if he can get used to buckwheat, he’s that much closer to accepting tiny amounts of wheat when introduced in the future. Mama had cooked up a couple of sizable buckwheat pancakes and packed them for the office visit. Not the greatest pancakes in the world, but not too bad either. Evan took his time eating them, and we worked hard to get him to down as much as he could. It wasn’t easy, but eventually he got enough and passed his challenge just fine.
For Calan’s challenge, it was a biggie. The long-awaited 75-peanut test. His, of course, was much more fun than Evan’s because he got to mix plenty of chocolate with the peanuts. This came in the form of Peanut M&Ms mixed with regular peanuts. Calan absolutely loves them, so he had no problem doing two sets of 35+ peanuts to complete the challenge. After running the hallways for five minutes, he did absolutely fine. This put Mama more at ease than anyone else. Looking back, 75 peanuts just sounds incredible when you think about when he started with actual peanut, and the tiny vials of peanut protein he’s lick off a spoon. A job well-done for everyone. From here, Calan gets to move to even more peanut “free eating” where he can (and is assigned to) eat peanut in a variety of forms. Dr. R stressed that contacting and ingesting peanut in many different ways (raw, candy, get it on your hands, etc.) is the best way to continue training his body and maintaining the tolerance he has built up. For Evan, it’s on to more buckwheat and tackling egg. He’ll also continue to “dose” a variety of tree nuts. Before leaving the hospital, Mama got a quick lesson on how to separate egg yolks from whole eggs and cook them up just right for Evan’s daily doses. Obviously the yolk is very closely related to the egg white he’s allergic too, so eating this daily will prepare his system for beating the egg white allergy. We’re all pulling for Mama to get through the tedious task of preparing these doses for months to come.
Calan
Bitter sweet as always, Calan said goodbye to age number six and cruised into age seven this month. Unlike the last six years, Gran and Grandpa were not here (yet) for his actual birthday. He had a pretty big day, nonetheless. In the morning, he ventured out with just Mama to the Airport Cafe to enjoy a big breakfast. Again, this isn’t something he’s always been able to do. But what better way to celebrate both your birthday and your peanut “graduation”. When they returned, it was time to get ready for the last lesson of the summer with Coach Lynn. It was lesson number 32 for Calan. He did well as always, and we did our photos and said our farewells to Lynn until next June. The middle of the day was fairly routine with lunch and Evan’s nap. We had a plan for Dada to take Calan to the beach in the afternoon…but with a surprise twist. After getting things ready for the trip, we headed out. Calan wanted to practice a couple climbs on the monkey bars at the park before going to Port Hueneme Beach. What he didn’t know however was that we would make a quick stop first. Dada told him he forgot something back at the house, then made a mistake turning onto the wrong street. Josiah’s street. After pretending to turn around in Josiah’s driveway, suddenly there was his friend bounding out the front door in his swim gear, carrying a birthday present. Calan’s face lit up, and he was instantly excited to learn that his buddy would be joining us on the birthday beach trip. Little did we know what was really lying ahead… Arriving at the beach, the kids had fun getting everything out and putting money in the parking meter. We stopped at the sandy hill leading down to the expansive beach, and the boys went down a couple times on their boogie boards. We found a nice. open spot on the beach. The weather was just right, with a few handfuls of people sprinkled along the beach front. The guys were having fun jumping waves, pretending to surf and playing with sand toys. At one point about 20 minutes in, Dada decided to go in the water about 25 ft out. Doing nothing different than any time before, suddenly got struck by a quick but sharp object. Running to shore, the pain intensified with every step. Josiah was the first to see the wound, with blood now streaming from it. He immediately said “it’s probably a stingray.” After that though, the boys seemed oblivious to Dada’s deep and debilitating pain despite informing them we needed to get some help. As it turned out, Dada slowly hobbled the 100 yards or so over to the life guard station. They cleaned the wound and wrapped it up. Seeing Dada in the distance sitting on the back of medic truck finally got the boys’ attention enough that they came over. Needless to say, our beach trip was over sooner than we wanted. Just getting home safely would be an adventure enough anyway! Back at home, Mama was preparing pizza for dinner (Calan’s choice). We asked Josiah if he wanted to stay a bit. We turned on a pre-season football game and opened Calan’s presents with Josiah and Evan. The kids had fun eating and playing with a couple of the games Calan got (velcro dodge ball and magnetic darts). It was a full day for sure, and Calan went to bed happy and tired.
Last year around his birthday, Calan suddenly broke through and learned to ride his bike on his own. This year’s he had a new feat as well. Up until now, he’d never been one to climb or hang on things that were more than a few inches off the ground. While other kids his age would traverse monkey bars and climb trees, this was just not Calan’s personality or within his confidence level. After “training” with Coach Wil however in July (and now starting one-on-one sessions with Wil), Calan is gaining a lot more confidence and ambition in using his body. Working hard on drills with Wil seems to have translated over to working hard on other things. Two prime examples are at the park. He set a goal for himself to do as many bars as he could on the monkey bars, and practiced several times a week, whenever we went to the park. He also started an intense determination to climb a tree there. It’s just the right height for his age, and after a couple weeks he finally built up the strength and confidence, and figured out how to pull himself up and move around the thick, crooked branches. Of course, he became obsesses with climbing and would try to pull himself up on anything he could find such as bars on workout equipment or our favorite, the top of the van! With this newfound physical ability came his desire to flex and show off his muscles. Doing pushups and mini “workouts” in the garage also fed this phase of showing how working harder pays off in the form of getting stronger and bigger muscles. We go with it, because whatever drives him is great.
Notable quotes this month:
Not a quote, but a really nice gesture toward his brother: After seeing the movie Cars 3, Calan really wanted to buy some of the car characters. He picked a few out online and even used his own money. He kept asking when they would arrive, and was pretty excited the day they finally came to the door. Thinking he would be really possessive with them he surprised us all and brought them over to Evan and asked if he would like to play with them. Too sweet.
Said to Mama: “I might be inviting you and Dada over to my house when my kids are born.”
Evan
Obviously, Evan starting his treatment plan this month is a big deal. Getting egg yolk and buckwheat in him each day feels like we’re on our way. He mostly a good sport so far in eating these, along with peanuts each day. We cringe ever so slightly as we know what a long haul it was with Calan. Not just the daily management, but some of the battles that ensued trying to get him to eat things. No one wants to fight when it comes to food. But the tough journey is worth it…The good news again though is that we hope with the nuts we’ve been giving him over the many months leading up until now, we have shortened the treatment window a bit. We can compare to Calan’s treatment history somewhat, but wheat is a much different animal according to Dr. R, as it’s not as predictable in how the body reacts or responds to it.
On an artistic note this month, Evan has taken to allowing himself to draw more intentionally. He’s not done this much to date, but recently he’s re-discovered he’s likes drawing little “guys”. Similar to what Calan did around this age, he loves drawing big round, empty faces with little legs. A few months back, Calan and Dada tried to encourage him in this freehand drawing. He may have found it a little difficult though, so he lost interest after a couple days. For now, it’s back and we love his silly little sketches.
Finally, an update on potty training for Evan… Oh, right…there is no update! Evan continues to be happy as a clam wearing diapers and umm, using them. He continues to show none of the usual signs of being ready to leave them behind and cross them off the “ready to be a big boy” list. We’re not in any hurry, but letting this happen more naturally may take longer than we might have expected. Of course, the guy was born a week late so it stands to reason there might be some other milestones in his young life that will be a little on the late side.
Notable quotes this month:
“Dada, why do we sleep so many times?” One afternoon while going down for nap.
After nap on another day: “If my body wakes up I won’t have anywhere to sleep.”