Feastday and Red Dye Hangover!T

Its one of those days. The house is trashed, Little Brother is having a Red Dye Hangover, and we just need a padded room. This works too.

We figured out a few months ago that these two chairs pushed together make a great Viking ship! Add a blanket and you have an awesome fort/sensory deprivation chamber!

Today is not only St. Valentine's feastday and the second anniversary of the kids' baptism and my confirmation into the Catholic Church, but it is also the feast day of  Sts. Cyril and Methodius.

And so to mark the feastday, the kids are sending messages coded in the Cyrillic alphabet. Fun!

Today I had the discussion with my son. I told him he is old enough to start watching his own dietary intake. In particular, he needs to read labels or make healthy guesses about unlabeled foods to discern whether a food item contains artificial dyes.

I don't normally feed my kids food with artificial dye, although I am no Nazi about it. I know its not good for us, as other countries in the world have banned it, and I know I get a headache and muscle aches from it. And because we rarely consume it, I have noticed that Little Brother has a STRONG reaction to artificial dyes, including the dreaded RED DYE #miscellaneous.

Three times in the past two years, he has consumed the dye and been in terrible shape afterwards. He is SUPER-cranky and emotional, he is angry, tired, and attention deficit. He cannot think straight... for example his ability to add 1 + 1 is completely gone.

The first thing that comes to my mind is to wonder how many kids in school eat a lunch with red dye in it, then do poorly in the classroom. They end up having MORE chemicals put into their systems for ADD and ADHD or even, sadly, ODD.

But back to my own child, I can see that this day is actually WORSE than a day when he is sick with a cold. At least with a cold he can function. With the dyes, he is far worse. He simply cannot have it.

So today, he starts a new awareness. How his body feels when he consumes additives he is allergic to. He had 3 or 4 suckers yesterday and this morning that contained red dye. (Very Valentine's day) and he also had a package of peanut M&Ms that has all sorts of dyes in it. I have not bought M&Ms in years because of this, and he got some as a gift from a well-meaning relative. We simply assume that if its labeled edible, it must be ok. :S

I think he will do great. This boy has an amazing drive. He'll be ok. First he must learn about himself, and then he gains the power to make decisions about his own body. Its a good thing.