Halloween at School

This year we didn't really have much planned in the week leading up to Halloween. Okay, that isn't totally true. We had a ton of plans, just not ones that required costumes and celebrated Halloween. The kids dressed up only twice, once for their school and once on Halloween.

The Dandelion's class party was Thursday. I had been careful not to pull out the Buzz Lightyear costume too early so the white didn't get ruined, but waiting created a bit of a situation as the Dandelion decided he wanted to be a pirate like last year instead. Finally, after seeing all of the kids in costume at school and wanting to be in the parade, he pulled on his costume and walked around saying "to infinity... and gymnastics!"


Despite my careful list-making and the school passing out a list of "safe" (nut-free) party options to the parents, someone still brought bakery cupcakes (with a "processed on" warning) to the party and the teachers put them out. Fortunately, the Dandelion was much more interested in the Halloween Oreos that I had brought and didn't even ask for a cupcake.

The Tumbleweed participated in the elementary school Halloween parade on Friday afternoon. It was quite different sending her off to school with her costume and hoping that she would be able to put it on herself. We arrived at the school forty-five minutes early to find complete chaos and huge crowds. (For future reference, go much earlier if you want to park close enough to let your sleeping child stay in the car.) It was fun to see her parading with her class, as well has her friends with their classes, but it was a heck of an operation to see her for about a minute.

"Safe" Halloween Candy

The last post got me thinking... what candy can the Dandelion have? Obviously, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers bars are out. We also know that all M & Ms are not safe either. But it made me want to check out some of the more obscure candies that seem to only enter our world at Halloween.

I did a little searching and I found another blogger who has done a lot of label-reading and put together this list of Peanut-Free Candy. **Always recheck product labels before serving!!!**

Additionally, I have read that Sixlets were a good substitute for M&Ms, but for what ever reason they were not on the other list. **Always recheck product labels before serving!!!**

So if you are attending a Halloween party or handing out candy at your house this Halloween, perhaps you can pick one of the candies from these lists? The peanut-allergic kids will thank you :)

Melted Wax

Note to Self: Don't put crayons or candles in the attic for seasonal storage.

Today I pulled out the Halloween boxes and started sorting through the goodies. We have the usual cobwebs, black cats and bats, and of course some cute ornaments from my days working at Hallmark. I have "spooky" CDs, pumpkin stickers and coloring books that I pull out for just a couple weeks every year. And I even have special plates, place mats & cups from the clearance section a few years ago.

Yes, I love hitting the seasonal section on the day after a holiday. It is then that I stock up on things for the following year. From non-perishable things to hand out to trick-or-treaters or seasonal toys & games, I always stash some stuff away. Last year I picked up mini packs of crayons... well, apparently sometime this summer it was hot enough to melt wax in our attic. Oh well. I was comforted that they had a clearance sticker indicating that I had only spent $1.

The main reason I usually put things away is for my "Halloween Store". Since the Tumbleweed was 2 1/2 I have been offering trade-in deals for her candy (not all of it, but most of it). At 2 she really couldn't eat most of it (gum, caramel, fire balls, etc), so I gave her a choice, 10 pieces of candy would buy her a small toy or a sheet of stickers. Once we come in from trick-or-treating, we sort and count candy (*lots of great math lessons if you have time) and she decides which candy she likes best and wants to keep, and what she would like to use "at the store". After the success the first year I have always made sure to hit the clearance section to "restock" the store for the following year. I have also updated my "pricing" to go along with the increased value of some of the coveted toys and the increased amount of candy as she goes to more houses each year (the goal is still to get her to trade most of it in).

The Dandelion got to participate last year, but I actually think he will enjoy it more than the Tumbleweed this year. She is getting older and "wiser". She knows she likes candy, that's for sure. It might be harder to get her to trade it in for toys or books. The Dandelion, on the other hand, is going to have to trade in a lot of his candy, since he can't have anything made with or processed near peanuts or tree nuts.

The added bonus, since my kids are little and finish pretty early, I use their trade in candy to hand out to the older kids in the neighborhood who come by later. Okay, I still keep some of my favorites around, but much of the excess is generously given away for the neighbors to deal with.

First Class Field Trip & Other Preschool News

Today was the Dandelion's first school field trip. They took a tour of the grocery store down the street. In order to make the groups manageable, the kids were split into four groups so only a portion of he Dandelion's classmates went with us today. Since they were mostly the youngest kids, it was a bit of a challenge keeping them from running off when they weren't strapped into carts!

The tour started with the floral department, where they took them into the back room and through the produce refrigerator. From there we headed to the pizza kitchen where the kids got to put the cheese on a pizza.

After that we headed to the lobster tank where the kids got to touch Larry the Lobster. The Dandelion was quite excited to see the lobsters but didn't want to touch it at all.


From there we headed over to the bakery, which was what I was afraid of. The Dandelion cannot eat things made in a bakery because they have peanuts/nuts so I generally steer clear of it, and today we were invited into the actual bakery. Fortunately the Dandelion was quite interested in the book of fancy cakes outside the bakery and didn't even notice that the other kids got to try squeezing frosting and that everyone got a sugar cookie to eat. Frankly, I couldn't have imagined it going any better.

The kids finished up by going back to pick up the cooked pizza and then got balloons from the floral department. The Dandelion (and his classmates) were thrilled to have balloons with their favorite characters!


So overall, the trip was fun. Actually, the class has had a lot of "special" activities so far this year. In addition to the grocery store trip, they have had a mini-golf fundraiser and a grandparents' snack day. The Dandelion was very excited when Papa came to his school for the day!


In other preschool news...

I am thrilled to report that there are weekly newsletters being sent home with what they are doing in class. This was one thing I missed most about being at other schools. I am too hands on to accept sending my kids "into a black hole" for school. I did not handle it well last year, and I am not doing too well with the whole going to school on a bus and staying there for 6.5 hours without me.

On the other hand, I am not so thrilled to report that the Dandelion has been struggling with drop-offs over the past week. He gets very clingy from the time we pull into the parking lot at school until I pry him off to get out the door. So far he doesn't really cry or scream about it, but he does put on his best pouty face and begs and pleads for me to stay at school with him. So it seems he does want to be there, he just wants me to be there too. However, the teachers have said that he seems to do it for show because as soon as I leave he acts completely normal, interacting with the teachers and other kids in the class. I do hope it blows over soon though, because I still feel bad leaving.

Additionally, he seems to be getting comfortable with people at school - from his teachers and classmates to the gymnastics teachers and the director, he does a great job of saying "hi" or "bye" with their name. He was also super excited about his first "homework", which wasn't actually homework. It was really his first handwriting worksheet. He was so proud of it. He came home and showed all of us his letter "S" paper. He seems so grown up these days!

PRE-Schlool

The Dandelion had has first week of pre-school (or PRE-Schlool as he says it) this week. Getting all of the paperwork in place to leave an Epi-Pen at the school was no small feat and I was exhausted by the time I had all of the changes of clothes labeled and instructions/forms filled out the night before.


The first day was an hour and a half of orientation, where the Tumbleweed and I stayed at the school. He was pretty cool with that and even asked when we were leaving at one point. The Tumbleweed and I left him there for a few minutes and he didn't even seem to notice. He played well with the other kids and enjoyed painting at the easel (the Tumbleweed's favorite activity when she was in Preschool I too). He made 3 paintings "of Dinoco McQueen" (they only had blue & white paint out)! He didn't quite understand why they had to keep the paintings at school, but that seemed like a good reason to go back on Thursday...


Thursday was the first drop-off day, and he did pretty well initially. I half expected him to cling to my leg and not let us go. Instead he did say that he wanted us to stay, but then he just pouted while a teacher tried to distract him and he wasn't crying when I left.

The Tumbleweed and I headed out for "Girls Day" and went to Dunkin Donuts. We haven't been able to go to Dunkin since the Dandelion was diagnosed with the peanut allergy, since he can no longer have the treats he used to get there. She was thrilled to say the least. After that we went and got her back-to-school hair cut, trimming about 6 inches off! It was lots of fun to spend girly time with her.

When we arrived at school for pick-up I got a huge running hug from the Dandelion. I checked in with the teacher who said he did have a little trouble adjusting & following directions at the beginning and went off to play by himself. She said when they went over he was crying and said "I miss my Mommy" :(. He did tell me when we got in the car that he had been sad at school because he missed me, but then he "played and got happy and went in the Zone!" (The Zone is the indoor playground at school).

All in all, not bad... we shall see how week two goes.

I'm Hungry

It's been 24 hours since the Dandelion was diagnosed with a peanut allergy, and we are going through a bit of withdrawal. I am still reading the labels of the things in our house and researching some of our usual foods, so the phrase of the day has been "I'm Hungry". Four days ago I didn't think twice about getting a cookie at the grocery store bakery and two days ago gave him a granola bar, yet today I am hiding foods and every time he coughs I panic.

Amazing. And exhausting.

I have spent hours at the computer searching for information. Most of the things I had been finding were "forbidden" foods and warnings about eating out, etc. So discouraging. It took a while, but I finally found something useful, both for our appetites and my sanity - a list of "okay" foods. I know, this list could be outdated and always check the labels, but it made me feel a lot better that there was such a long list of foods that were "okay" when previously everything I had been finding was so negative.

You can find the pdf list here: Peanut Free Snack List

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