What can I say? Life in maintenance...
A couple of days after graduating we were at a friend's house. She had a whole lot of people over... which translates to a whole lot of food. Specifically a dessert party. In the past ('past' as in, even just a few weeks ago) we would have hidden out at home--- but this time I took Coby directly to the dessert table and commanded him to, "eat!"
After all labels do not matter anymore.
Home baked goods do not matter anymore.
Cross contamination does not matter anymore.
"What can I eat?"
"Anything you want!"
"Really?!"
Amazing!
Truthfully I think he may still be a bit nervous. This is going to take a bit of getting used to. At first he took just fruit. Then chips. I begged him to eat a brownie (one form of chocolate he is willing to eat). He took one bite of the brownie and refused to eat anymore of the brownie. Someone later told me that he may have also eaten a home-made cookie as well.
And those were his first post graduation moments that introduced him to his new life.
This change.
His rebirth.
But of course with change comes Stacey dreams. Within the first two nights I had two related dreams.
1. In the first one I dreamed we were in shul and went downstairs to the kiddush. I told Coby, "You can take whatever you'd like!" And so he proceeded to grab a half eaten danish off somebody else's plate. Haha. He took me quite literally.
Isn't it nice to know that some of my dreams are able to have a sense of humor ;), unlike the one I had the following night (though even that one was a bit 'cool')
2. In my second dream I dreamed I went into Coby's room to check on him (which I do several times a night IRL).... and instead of my 9 year old, there was a 1 year old Coby sleeping in 9 year old Coby's bed. He was wearing a onesie, laying on his back on that big boy bed. No guard rail or anything. I screamed for Yitz who came running upstairs.
"What is going on? Coby is 9. How is he a baby right now?"
He replied, "What are you talking about? You are losing your mind. Of course Coby is a baby. He is not a 9 year old. Are you insane?"
I replied, "He was 9 when I checked on him an hour ago." I proceeded to open his closet and was shocked to see it full of onesies and baby clothes and even a stroller!
At first I got all excited that I get baby Coby back and get to raise him all over again! But that giddiness quickly got overshadowed by fear. I gasped and exclaimed, "Yitz no no no. He can't be 1 again. We just spent nearly a year fixing him. It was so hard but we did it. And now it's all gone? All of it is going to happen all over again? He's going to have a horrible reaction that will try to kill him. What if we don't get lucky this time around? We already went through all of it. I can't go through this all again, I can't!"
How is that for detailed dreams!
But back to real life and Coby's newly found freedom. Three days after graduation I took him to Haagen Dazs. His very first trip to an ice-cream store! He ordered a vanilla milk-shake.
He was completely speechless.
I guess some things are just too big for words.
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He gasped, "REACTION?! WHAT REACTION?"
I need to choose my words more carefully...
I also put together a slideshow about Coby's allergy and OIT journey. I posted it in my two facebook OIT groups simply excited to share our success story with the others. I did NOT expect the responses we got. If you haven't seen it yet and wish to- here it is (the edited version)
I wasn't even sure people would take 12 minutes out of their day to watch Coby's story. It's easy to like a picture, but to take actual time out one's day for someone they never met personally???
Little did I know...
Hundreds and hundreds of likes and loves and comments. Parents and kids reaching out to us telling us how inspired they were. How it brought them to tears. How it gave them courage. How they appreciated seeing Coby's hurdles and how he overcame them and making them believe that maybe they can too. People who were hemming and hawing about beginning OIT, after seeing Coby's video made that call to the doctor for the very first appointment. Children who were scared were now inspired. Asking permission to share it with family and friends.
Wow!
And then...
A doctor from South Africa contacted me after seeing Coby's video. She is an allergist who hopes to bring OIT down there. She is in charge of the 2018 allergy conference in South Africa, and she asked if she can show Coby's video over there in hopes of it inspiring the other doctors to start learning more about OIT and beginning to treat those with allergies over there.
How cool is that!
My little Coby changed his own life and is now changing the life of others.
That long awaited for ice cream cake.
From day one his goal was to be able to have ice-cream cake for his 9th birthday. We missed that deadline by just 5 days, so we decided to present him with one at his graduation party.
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| I've been waiting for this moment for so long! |
Haha. My kid who just doesn't like chocolate.
He had a great time at his graduation party which of course was 'Peanuts' themed.
We also had to get some custom made M&Ms and the label even said 'may contain peanuts'... and guess what... we don't give a damn! Of course Coby refused to eat it since it was chocolate, but it was still nice to have it in our home with absolutely zero fears.
It was so nice having people who care about Coby come together to celebrate all he has accomplished. He truly felt the love.
All those months ago this graduation party seemed like a big question mark and forever away. It's so hard to believe it has now come and gone.
But even though his party may be over, his celebrating is not.
When he found out that there is going to be lots more ice-cream in his near future he completely freaked out!!!!
Folks, I think we may have created a monster!!!!
For someone who didn't even know what Haagen Dazs was just a couple of weeks ago,
he sure is making up for lost time!
It sure is nice living in color once again.
The next big day in this journey (nope it's not quite over yet... he may have graduated but there is one final step he needs to take) is August 31st.
His 24 peanut challenge!!!!
Holy crap....
But one step at a time... that's still over two weeks away. In the meantime I am going to let him live it up.
And live in color.
He definitely has earned it.
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