It's About the FUN not the FOOD!

With our beach vacation wrapped up, I am reflecting on this experience and how I felt throughout our beach weekend.  The trip included 22 people, 12 adults and 10 kids. The kids' ages ranged from six months to eight years old.

The kids enjoying their Maryland beach vacation

Trips like this allow Mehul and I to see how other kids eat. Freely. Wow - what a luxury that most parents take for granted.  One had a hot dog at the boardwalk. Others were allowed to eat anything from anyone without question. And of course no required label reading  The kids on this trip were far less picky than our sweet boy. Their diets seem so diverse.  A part of this is because innately the other children are simply not as picky as Jahan. They would eat foods with color also known as fruit and vegetables!  Their appetites much larger. And then of course, no food allergies, not even one.

It still is a tough pill to swallow to have to tell Jahan he cannot have what his friends are eating and it will make him sick. He cannot have the french fries on the boardwalk that daddy is eating because of the oil it is fried in. He cannot have the chicken that was made for dinner because of ambiguous ingredients.  It hurts my heart that my boy will soon know that he is very different from his friends.

With all of the "nos" and"cannot have those" this past weekend, Jahan was shown some love by one of our dear friends.  She sought out a Jahan-safe recipe separate from the others that would mimic what the others were having.  Jahan loved it!  Moments like this shows us how much Jahan is loved and we cannot express how grateful we are to have such wonderful and understanding people in our lives.

With all of the emotions that come with having a child allergic to many many foods, I have to remind myself, that the life we live is about the fun we are having, not about the food we are eating.

No horseback riding, but this was the next best thing!

Jahan won this lil monkey all on his own!