My "grandson" is allergic to cinnamon

When we reintroduced eggs, at first I thought he was still allergic to them because he developed a rash on his face (like he did in December when he got the flu shot, which also has egg in it). I then figured out that it wasn't the pineapple cake that was giving him a rash, but the oatmeal I had given him. To test this theory, I didn't give him any cinnamon for a few days. His rash didn't reappear until I reintroduced cinnamon yesterday. I gave him apple and cinnamon oatmeal. The rash went away so I decided to try one more time (just to be sure), and the rash came back immediately. He already couldn't have any of the "fruit and cream" types of oatmeal (ex. strawberry, peach, etc.) because they have milk in them. Cinnamon roll and apples and cinnamon have now also been eliminated. It seems he's down to the "maple and brown sugar" variety. That oatmeal plus bananas are definitely his favorite thing to eat. I really feel like we can't make any more progress until he learns to chew. I can't really put bigger chunks of food on the spoon since he's just swallowing everything.

Coconut milk yogurt is really thin (runny), which makes it a challenge to feed it without spilling some. I made the mistake today of mixing in some baby cereal to thicken it up (and also boost the caloric density). I think part of the reason Ian likes yogurt so much is because it's so "low" in the texture department. I spoiled that by adding cereal. Oops. I won't do that again. I'll let him eat his yogurt as is in the future because it's nice to have a non-confrontational meal every once in a while. He doesn't gag on the spaghetti noodles (cut in very tiny pieces), but he screams his head off when I feed that concoction to him. I made a bean and tomato dish for dinner tonight as my friend, Cheri, came up to visit for a couple of hours. Raisins did the trick again for Nadia. I hope raisins keep working until Nadia outgrows the "picky eating" phase. What a blessing to have discovered such a simple tool in getting her to eat just about anything! If only there was something I could put on the spoon that would get Ian to eat so easily!

This morning as I was holding Ian after picking him up from the nursery, a 6th grade girl asked me, "Is he your grandson?" Oh My Word did that hurt. I immediately flashed back to when I was in middle school and people would assume that I was my brother's mother and that my mom was the grandmother. As I middle schooler I got a kick out of someone thinking I was that "grown up." Now I know what it felt like for my mom to have that comment directed toward her. It was probably harder for her because (thus far anyhow) no adult has said that to me. I kept reminding myself that when I was a first year teacher (and only 20 years old) my sixth graders called me an "old fogey." Kids that age aren't good judges of age, right? Please tell me they're not because it didn't feel good to have someone think Ian was my grandson. The other "hardest" question I've been asked about Ian thus far was when someone last month asked me if he had Down Syndrome. Ouch. What makes that comment harder to take is that so many people (including the girl today who thought he was my grandson) say he "has my face." I definitely agree that Nadia favors Paul, and Ian favors me. I'm far more selective in which pictures I post of Ian than I am of Nadia as there are definitely some pictures in which he looks like he's "special." Of course I think both of them are ADORABLE!