Here it is.
. . . . .
I bet you never thought that evil could look so tasty, huh?
Ok. So maybe peanut butter isn't actually evil, but it sure can feel that way when you have a little boy who breaks out in hives when he eats even the smallest bit of that good ol' PB.
I mean, just look at this face. Who could ever want to hurt this cute boy?
You can only kind of see the red splotches/hives all over Rich. And maybe you can only see them in this picture if you're his mom. Which I am.
This is what happened.
When we were in Oregon about a month ago, Rich happily devoured a PB&J given to him by his lovely Aunt McKenna. Along with the PB&J, he ate some Crenshaw melon, and some other stuff. As he was eating, I noticed that the skin on his belly was breaking out in hives! But I didn't know what was causing them. I figured it was either the peanut butter or the melon. But he'd had both before without any adverse reactions.
So, for the last month, Tyler and I have made sure to be extra careful to keep Rich away from both peanut butter and melons. But we were advised to try each potential culprit again to narrow down what his hives might have come from.
And tonight, I decided, was the night. I spread a thin little layer of peanut butter on a Ritz cracker, and Rich ate about a bite of the cracker before he tossed it onto the ground.
Within 15 minutes, his torso was covered in hives.
I'm grateful he only had a tiny bit of peanut butter. Imagine how bad his reaction could have been if he'd eaten the whole cracker!
So now we know. No peanut butter.
But does this mean no peanuts? No peanuts in the house? No peanut oil? I'm not entirely sure of our next step, and since peanuts are in everything and seem to be everywhere, I definitely need to know what kinds of protection Rich needs to keep him safe. (And how to be prepared for a peanut attack. You know, should anything slip by me or Tyler.)
I'll keep you all updated as we learn more. In the mean time--don't be fooled by peanut butter's creamy goodness.
I mean really. This is the face of goodness.
