Another thing in common

with the boys is their allergy to peanuts.

We discovered Baz's allergy to peanuts 1 week short of his 3rd birthday (when they say it is say for you to try peanuts with young children). I didn't intentionally give him peanuts - he "stole" from my stash of peanut-butter sandwiches I prepared for our day trip to Tagaytay to celebrate his birthday since Raffy was going to Switzerland and wouldn't be in the country for his birthday. Almost immediately, Baz developed something that looked like welts on his face, his eyes began to swell and his tongue looked like it had blisters. Credit mother's instincts for telling me what I needed to buy. We were lucky we found a drugstore a good 5 minutes after we discovered Baz's allergic reaction. Raffy and I debated whether we should bring him to a local (provincial) hospital or to go back to Alabang for Asian Hospital. I was so scared that I wanted to run to the closest hospital. But Raffy preferred to rush back to Alabang. Thankfully, his allergic reaction subsided by the time we got to the hospital (after around 20 minutes) and I don't even remember what they did except to observe him.

So, you'd think we'd be careful with Hadrien, right? We were! Since he hasn't turned 3 yet, we don't give him peanuts and check carefully before giving him food which usually contain peanuts. This weekend though, we had a box of donuts, a few of which were glazed with peanut-butter. Even if we were careful not to give either of the boys those donuts, on hindsight, we think they picked out donuts which were set next to the peanut-butter glazed ones. Just like Baz, Hadrien had an immediate reaction - his chin turned red. This time, we didn't have to drive to the pharmacy to get antihistamine. In 10 minutes, the rashes began to subside. I hope they outgrow their peanut allergy - and soon! I'm scared at the thought of not being there when they make the mistake of eating peanuts or not having medication on hand.