Jack's teacher said, "Did you by chance bring a special snack for Jack today? Each child brings a special snack that starts with the letter "P". Not only did I forget that, but here comes one of Jack's classmate with CUPCAKES for his birthday!! Okay, okay, think fast! Jack's teacher came out with some "Peeps" and asked if he could have them. I looked on the back and it said "GLUTEN FREE." Awesome! PEEPS are the fun Marshmallow shaped animals that you usually see around Easter time. So Jack had Peeps (in the shape of purple chicks) and his two cookies (KINNI-TOOS CHOCOLATE SANDWICH CREME) that he had brought in his lunch. BUT, I still felt BAD! Not only could he he not have some of the "P" snacks, like Pop-Tarts, but I pictured Jack sitting there with a sad look of his face, wishing he could have a cupcake, so I HAD to go to the store.
SOOO, off I went to Kroger to get Jack a gluten-free snack that started with the letter "P". He loves peanut butter cups, but unfortunately, there's a little guy with a peanut allergy in his class, so I went with pretzels - not just any pretzels, GLUTINO'S Yogurt Covered Pretzels. So I grabbed a bag of yogurt covered pretzels and chocolate covered pretzels as well as some BETTY CROCKER CUPCAKE ICING in a can for the teacher to put a little on Jack's gluten-free cookies so he could have something special while the other kiddos ate their birthday cupcakes.
I raced back to school and gave the teacher Jack's "P" gluten-free snack to share with the class. They thought that was so sweet of me to do, but wouldn't they have done the same thing? I'm sure Jack would have been fine having his cookies, Peeps, and Puffs, but not having a cupcake - that's not fair, right? It was nice at Jack's old pre-school, the calendar also included birthdays - so I knew when to send a special treat to school, but here, they don't have birthdays on the calendar, so it could be a surprise on any day. So I asked them to hold onto the icing (it's really more like frosting) for birthdays. The teachers are very thoughtful and I'm thankful that they had Peeps on hand. Maybe Jack would've been fine, it's just the vision I put in my head of Jack - you know the face - the one that just breaks your heart!
I'm hard on myself when it comes to things like this, but I'm only human and I will make mistakes along this journey. But lesson learned...read the class calendar - they give it to you for a reason! And secondly, I should've had a gluten-free bag of "birthday" treats for Jack at school. Lastly, expect the unexpected, you always need to be prepared.
You are such a wonderful mom! Yes---it's an incredible emotional roller coaster to have a little one with a food allergy, but you did such an awesome job, and Jack is so lucky to have you.
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I just came across your blog. I am so refreshed to know I am not the only mom that feels like you do!
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