Taryn: Large and In Charge!

Here's a spotlight on Taryn. She is just so photogenic...most of the time...and I love her smiles! Today has been a very exciting day for Taryn (though she doesn't know it).

I took T to her allergist today. She had a blood test done a couple weeks ago and today we went for a skin test and to find out the results from the blood test. GOOD NEWS! All her levels have dropped. She is now declared as pretty much NOT allergic to dairy! We're going to challenge the allergy over the next few days at home to make sure she's grown out of it, but what a relief!! She's been tolerating milk and cheese so much lately as we've put it in her diet more and more, but she still hasn't had a drink of milk ever in her life. So, we're working on her being able to have a full glass of milk with no reaction. If we can do it, she will be officially allergy free (for dairy!)

YEAH!!! Now, if only Avery wasn't allergic to dairy, we'd be officially back on milk in our family. I guess we'll keep waiting...

As for her other allergies, she is cleared for all nuts except peanuts. So she can have pecans, walnuts, cashews, almonds (with supervision still), hazelnuts, macademia nuts...yeah! So chocolate covered almonds, here she comes! She's still high for peanuts, but whereas her levels were 8.56 in 2008, she's now 7 point something, so at least it is decreasing. She's never had a reaction to peanuts, but we'll still keep her away from it as much as possible for another year. Then we'll probably challenge it too.

Then, with eggs, she went from 12.31 to 3.56...BIG drop! But still definitely allergic. She can eat eggs baked in things and even tolerate things like crepes. But she can't handle raw eggs (as evidenced in this post) and probably can't have straight scrambled eggs yet. We'll also challenge that in a year or so.

The allergist did think that maybe her allergies are causing her to have frequent ear infections, though she never complains about them so I never know she has them until we go to the doctor. "WOW!! Did you know she has a raging ear infection?" Nope.

I love this girl. She is a wonderful example to me. I love her tenderness, her love, her innocence, her purity. I love her big hugs and "I love you too much mom". I love 'seeing' her mind work as she reasons and comes up with the funniest things to say. I love how much she talks. I love her craziness. I love spending one-on-one time with her. Ahh...I love this kid!

Taryn just lives. She does whatever comes to mind, often without thinking. And then Keara follows her lead. This day, Taryn saw the water running, so she climbed in...clothes and all. Since she didn't get in trouble, Keara figured it was worth doing too!

Taryn's whole life is lived like this!!! Full of life and joy! Passion is her middle name. I love it!! Yes, it is the greatest challenge to bridle that passion and help her understand decorum and appropriateness, but I LOVE how alive and excited she is with EVERYTHING. Nothing is dull in this kid's life! What a blessing she is to our family!