Not Allergic to Trains

Today, as on all Mondays, I have the boys all day and this morning the thought occured to me I could take them on a train ride. So I did. The ride a few towns north was fun. We convinced B it wouldn't be scary and sat up top riding backwards. I was a bit nauseous but they loved it. We talked about every town we passed and whether we'd been there before (yes to all, since we only traveled about 15 miles total, but still the boys seemed to think we were on a cross country adventure).

At our predetermined stop we detrained and walked down the town's main street where bakeries and boutiques share exorbitant rental fees. At the bakery I decided to let each boy pick a pastry. This thrilled them and sounded like a super fun idea until W took a bite of his cinnamon twist and gasped that his throat was itching. OH. Whoops. Last week we were told (after a very brave blood test for W) that he's allergic to eggs, almonds and the two most common types of grass in our area. The grass issue was evident after I let him hike up a hill covered in these grasses this past weekend. The eggs and almonds seemed easy to avoid: no scrambled eggs or Cobb Salads (not tough to avoid for a 4 yr old) and no almonds slivered on stuff. I checked the cinnamon twist. No slivered almonds (obviously). But I'm new to this allergy thing. I forgot about the almond paste used in nearly every pastry known to man.

So, the rest of our trip was spent hauling ourselves to the nearest Walgreens (not easy when Mr. 2 yr old doesn't want to walk and Mr. Allergy is bending over every few steps to try and scratch his tonsils out of his throat, AND the store is four blocks away), getting Benadryl, and then high tailing it back for the next train home. Needless to say, I'll be carrying Benadryl from now on. And what needs to be said, to my boys' credit, is that they were rock stars through it all. I can only hope this allergy thing works itself out in the next few years. W is devastated to have found that pastries are off limits, for now.