Devlin - Mea Culpa

Devlin is allergic to peanuts. We suspected something was up when he gagged and threw up after a taste of peanut butter. But since he was 18 months old, and he had a very strong gag reflex, we didn't take it too seriously. A few months later, after a very very tiny nibble of a Mrs. Fields' peanut butter cookie, he vomited, in projectile-fashion. Now we were freaked out, and after a six month wait to see the pediatric allergist, our fears were confirmed.
So, we began to carry a epi-pen with us, read the labels, rid our house of peanut products and mourned the fact that Devlin would never enjoy a simple lunch of p.b.& j. As two people who love peanut butter, we confined our peanut binges to outside the home when we were at work. Fortunately, he didn't demonstrate any allergies to tree nuts - almonds, pecans, walnuts, macadamia nuts. As parents of a peanut-allergic child, we became educated in the differences between peanuts, which are members of the legume family, and tree nuts. This also meant we had to watch Devlin's reactions upon eating other well-known legumes, like beans, chick-peas, lentils, even peas! Fortunately for us, he vomits after ingesting the offending item. The epi-pen is precautionary at this point, and hopefully will remain just that.
Devlin's also allergic to dogs and cats. When he pets an animal, and then makes contact with his face, his face puffs up. (Which is why there are no pets in our family.) We've notes that he's thrown up after having one bite of peas and a sip of ham and lentil soup. All foods he ate as a baby and toddler without reactions, but this may be a sign of the allergy becoming more severe. He's also recently broken out in hives, but we're unsure of the trigger. His eczema is flaring up too. So, there's another appointment booked with the allergist to follow-up on his condition.
In the meantime, we continue on as before. I rarely make meals with beans, and if I do, Devlin doesn't eat it. (Neither does Ceilidh, but that has nothing to do with allergies - more like 3 year old stubborness and pickiness.) We've stopped having peas. We've tried edamame and there hasn't been a reaction yet. No peanuts on pad thai. No peanut butter cookies. Ceilidh and Aisling have also been banned from peanuts, just in case. We love the fact that most indoor playgrounds and schools are peanut-free. Now that he's older, he can tell us if his tummy doesn't feel good, or if he thinks he's going to throw up. We fill out gazillions of forms for school, and send several epi-pens to the class room, just in case.
A few weeks ago, I did the post-Halloween chore of picking through the kids' candy loot and taking away all the peanut goodies. Some were easy - Reeses products, Snickers. Others not so much. But I (and Daddy) totally missed one. Mr. Big chocolate bars. I hadn't seen those in years, and it never occurred to me that there would be peanuts in there.
A few nights ago, the kids picked out their one Halloween treat after dinner. Devlin picked Mr. Big. He took one bite, and promptly announced his tummy didn't feel good. He started making like he was going to gag. Rushed him to the bathroom. Went through the garbage to look for the tiny wrapper. Pored through the teeny tiny list of ingredients. Buried halfway through the list of chemically sounding items, there it was - peanuts. My bad, Daddy bad, we all bad.
Mea Culpa Devlin. All Mommy's fault.
Just like that one time I let you take a bite of the drumstick ice cream cone, totally forgetting there were tiny peanuts on top.