If you couldn't tell by my (I think) chatty tone, I'm a fairly talkative and social person by nature. Ok, I've been known to talk so much I make my husband's eyes glaze over and was voted 'most talkative' in my high school senior superlatives. But I digress. I enjoy being around people and having a good time. Even more so, I have enjoyed watching L interact during play dates and now preschool. FPIES is seriously crimping my style, here. Under normal circumstances I would be very active in a play group and be out and about often with the girls seeing friends and exploring the world. Nothing about FPIES seems to make for a normal existence.
I'm really thankful that L is in preschool. Its giving her a much needed dose of socialization, and a short break from my otherwise constant paranoia with her sister. There's just so much we can't do. So many places we can't go, people we can't see. The whole thing is just so unfair for L. We've been having some behavioral problems with her lately. And although I know her age has a lot to do with it, I'm sure having to take a backseat to Livvy's 'issues' also plays a major role.
At this point, Livvy doesn't know any different; that she's not socializing like she would be in another life without FPIES. It definitely makes me a bit sad at times. I so desperately want her to have some regular normalcy. Unfortunately, there are just so many facets of a 'normal' toddler existence that are just way too dangerous for us at this point. Most people have just given up asking if we'd like to get together and let the kids play.
It sounds like such a fun idea... until that moment we actually do it. Its really not all that socially acceptable to be on your hands and knees searching for rogue cheerios and going nuts with clorox wipes on somebody else's toys. There's also the inevitable heart attacks from some other kid's sloshing sippy cup. Then we get home and chances are good we've had some sort of 'exposure' (food-slimed toys, crumb off the floor, etc) and the diarrhea will start. Oh, and more than likely I will have received some interesting comments regarding my children's allergies/intolerances as well. The risk to reward ratio just sort of stinks.
So we stay home. I've given up trying to explain the real reason we can't venture out for play dates. Nobody really 'gets it'. Generally, I come up with some random excuse that might sound 'normal' for not showing to a play date. Maybe some day things will be normal. Maybe. Until then, though, we won't be able to make it...
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