NC, Preschool, New Playgrounds & Allergy-Testing Results

NC

At the end of August, we visited Ben’s parents and grandma in North Carolina.  Ben’s sister Claire and her boyfriend Billy were visiting from Scotland.  Ben’s other sister Alix and her husband Art came into town from Indiana.  Ben’s Uncle’s family came in for a few days from Alabama. 

Emma’s favorite thing to do was play with Claire’s childhood beany animals.

We went to a children’s museum while we were there.

 

This is the Highland Cow (Pronounced Heeland Coo) that Claire and Billy brought from Scotland for Emma.

Preschool

Emma started preschool last week.  She didn’t seem to bat an eye when she went into the classroom and she was happy when I came to pick her up.  She said her favorite things were circle time and playing with the trays (the trays have different activities on them).  When we went to meet the teachers, she wanted to do all of the different activities but she didn’t have enough time.  I told her she could do all of them when she started school.  The teachers are very nice and seem smart.

Playground Opening

Here’s the new 5-12 playground:

I pretty much hid in my house when I saw the playground slowly being pieced together.  I never had been happy with how blue it turned out.   The day it was put up, I thought of the exact colors that would look perfect for it.  But now that  a few weeks have passed, I’m used to the colors, and I’m happy with how the whole thing turned out.  Several people have told me how much they like the playgrounds and I just nodded and said thank you.  The children seem to like it and that is all that matters, right?

The grand opening :)

Here’s the 2-5 playground.  I’m really happy with the colors on this and the children seem to like it.

The Results of the Hypoallergenic Diet

The day I introduced cow’s milk I felt terrible.  I don’t think I’m seriously lactose intolerant, but I’m obviously sensitive to it.  I used to drink a ton of cow’s milk so no wonder I didn’t feel great. Cheese and yogurts are OK for me.  I also had an allergic reaction to oranges (rash all over my legs) and apricots (tightening of the throat).  And processed sugar wreaked havoc on my skin, which is pretty common.  Now I feel so much better and my skin has cleared up a lot.

I highly recommend the hypoallergenic diet to everyone, or at least taking out suspect foods for 4 weeks to see what kind of effect they have.  The big ones to test for are: artificial sugars, soy, non-organic corn products, wheat (though I  think for most people it’s not the gluten that’s the problem; it’s the sugar that shows up in wheat products), milk, citrus fruits, nightshade vegetables, and nuts.