It has begun. My utter hysteria over Kindergarten beginning tomorrow. Stranger than my freak-out is the fact that it has taken me totally off guard.
On Friday, I left work early to pick up BoyChild from camp and take him to his Kindergarten orientation. Now, keep in mind that he has been to two schools now. School Number One was a little Montessori classroom with 14 kids and 2 teachers. Period. School Number Two was 6 classrooms and a handful of teachers who all knew my children.
Kindergarten is a million kids, about 800 teachers, and 2000 administrative staff. There are, oh, I'd say 50 doors leading into the school, and every one of those people are out to get my kid. Oh, wait, no, that was my li'l nightmare last night.
In truth, I am feeling okay about this whole "some dude who may or may not be jacked-up on Meth is driving my only son to school five days a week" thing. Sure. No problem. No, this week's freak-out is the inevitable peanut allergy issue.
I arrive in his classroom and briefly meet his teacher. She introduces herself using her first name which totally throw me off. Then she points to where he will be sitting. She hands him a bag of goodies and then goes to greet another family who has arrived. First item in the bag, a big ole chocolate covered ALMOND. Not a good sign.
Really, I understand. I do. If you don't have a kid with a nut allergy, it's not in your brain. I don't fault her so much, but FUCK. Have you picked up a fucking newspaper in 5 years? Plus, it totally forces me to be THAT mom. "Nice to meet you Ms. Pain in my Ass. But don't worry. After I smile sweetly at you, I'll just take out my teacher frustration on your vulnerable child."
-Hi. I think I filled everything out correctly. This is probably a good time to mention that he has a peanut allergy (handing her the candy).
-Oh, well, that's an almond.
-Yeah, same thing in his body. Peanuts, almonds, pecans---allergic to all of them.
-OH! NO! REALLY!!!??? (directs all of this to him) Well, I guess we should keep you away from them then, huh? How allergic is he?
-Well, he's been tested. According to his allergist, pretty allergic. Any ingestion could lead to anaphylactic shock. It has the potential to be fatal if not treated. He's pretty good about asking, but we should probably arrange a time to talk about this more if you haven't had a student with this allergy before. With the right precautions, it's very manageable. (I can see her eyes are on the door as other families file in.)
-Uh, yeah, okay. I'm sending him some stuff home on Monday so you can just fill out the form in there.
-Uh, okay. Is that all I need to do?
-Yep. Ok, little guy. It's nice to meet you. See you on Monday!!
I went and met with the woman in charge of the cafeteria after that. The basic gist is there are peanuts everywhere. Cookies, brownies, in salads, sandwiches.
Next stop, the school nurse. Filled out a form aso she can keep an Epipen in there for him. Did I mention, the nurse's office in on the whole other side of the school?
Okay, so here we are. Deep breath.
I have printed up and laminated little cards with his picture on it and emergency instructions that I will distribute to all his teachers-Art, PE, Computer, and Music. The cafeteria will have one, the school nurse, and the front office. They look like mini-WANTED posters with the words "I AM ALLERGIC TO PEANUTS" on one side and the signs of a reaction and instructions on the back.
I have loaded up his class with every possible snack so hopefully no one else will ever have to bring any in. He is taking his lunch everyday and has been lectured no less than 10 times on food-sharing and precautions to take.
On his first day of school, he's taking a story book geared towards kids his age about peanut allergies. Hopefully his teacher will read it to his class.
Short of that, I'm not sure what else to do.
It's a fine line. I don't want him to feel different. But shit, everyone is different. Maybe it's good that he gets that now. I have no idea. Thank God he's hyper-social and we don't have to deal with any ADD issues or learning difficulties on top of this.
I knew this day was coming. I guess I just anticipated that it would be about the normal stuff--the letting go of my first child and all of that. I hate that those feelings, which I'm also feeling in mass amounts, is all jumbled up in this freaking allergy crap.
I am calling the allergist this week and having them schedule a food challenge ASAP. Basically, they give him a small dose of pure peanut extract and we wait. If he reacts, they are prepared to treat him. If not, we figure out if we're safe. Given his last 2 tests, I think it's worth a shot, terrifying as it might be.
If he was ever in the clear, I don't think I could convince him it's okay to eat peanut butter. I probably wouldn't even try.