A whole new culinary world

I am more than excited to say that Mal is growing out of some of his food allergies.  Excited is an understatement.  Everything that he can now eat opens up more options for us and brings us one step closer to being able to all eat the same thing for dinner.  This development comes just as Mal has started asking to eat food that he sees other people eat and just as I was about to lose it cooking for 3 different meals each meal.

After the attempt to give him walnuts a few months ago, I was pretty reluctant to try any new food with him.  It goes against your nature as a parent to give your kid something that could potentially cause them distress.  That being said, it has been harder and harder for me to cook for Mal and there are very few ready made products available for us.  He is also increasingly curious about what other people are eating.  He often says, "When I am a mommy, I can eat bread (or ice cream or pretty much anything I am eating that he wants to try).  It makes me kind of sad and I as much as I try to make anything he requests, he knows it is not the same.

It started with some soy.  I threw a little gluten free tamari in an almond sauce I made for Mal's pasta and gave him a little.  No reaction.  He loved the sauce, so I gave him a lot.  Again, no reaction.  I would throw a little tamari in with his food every now and then and then I worked my way up to edamame and tofu.  He loved the edamame (what's not to love) and the tofu he loved if I fried it.  Aside from loving it, there was no reaction.

Feeling confident, I started putting butter on his bread.  No reaction.  I tried giving him yogurt.  He hated it.  I tried giving him cheese.  He refused to eat it.  He kept telling me he was allergic to it.  I gave him mac and cheese.  He loved it.  No reaction (if you don't count his reaction to the color of the pasta).  How can I tell if he is allergic to milk if he won't eat it?!?  I try to sneak dairy in, and when I am successful at getting him to eat it, there is no reaction.

Eating tons of cous cous and quinoa salad that we
 made for lunch (notice how much is on his face)

It took us a while, but we worked up the courage to try gluten products again.  Mal and I made oatmeal fruit bars.  He gobbled them up and had no problems at all.  While it was encouraging in light of the last time I had tried oats with him, I was still reluctant.  I decided to press forward when I was eating pretzels one day and he asked me what they were.  I had to hide them after letting him try a few.  I think he would have eaten the whole bag.  No reaction.  Since then I have been giving him a little every day and he is doing fantastic!

This has opened up a whole new culinary world for us.  Malachy is loving being able to try new foods and really seems to like bread and pretzels.  We went to a playdate last week and they had bagels.  Unfortunately, almost all bagels have corn in them (which Mal is still very allergic to), but he kept asking me about bagels.  Finally I found some at Trader Joes.  I let him have one for dinner tonight.  I do believe he is hooked on them (thankfully they are whole wheat).

I think we are going to hold off on trying anything else with him for now just to make sure everything goes well.  I gave him a calcium gummy with corn in it and he reacted immedietly, so we are just going to go with what we have for now.  That being said, I am so happy my little man gets to experience all these new foods...and very happy to be one step closer to making one meal for the whole family.