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Day 40-43 Happy Endings

Sophia loves stories. She mostly loves the emotional journey a story takes you through that ends with everything being okay. She likes to see other people's struggles and how they work through them. She will stop what she's doing to hear about somebody who's sad or hurt. I've thought about this in the past as her being nosy or a bit of a drama queen. Now, I see it as her compassion for others and maybe her own coping mechanism for the emotional demands of her her condition

To a 3 year old, a life threatening food allergy can be traumatic. There is, in it's own right, an emotional process coupled with uncomfortable physical reactions. It's scary and hard to understand. My lingo with Sophia is telling her that I will keep her safe. That's my way of communicating with her that she can relax and have fun, and Mommy will make sure that nothing scary happens to her. When she has  contact reactions she cries in fear and pain and runs to me telling me to "keep her safe". That dialogue is a mutual understanding between us that I know reduces her anxiety. The responsibility required to parent a child with a life threatening food allergy is extreme, but being a young child with this condition  is challenging beyond words. She wants to know why.

Why does she get sick when she only touches milk protein's. Why is milk everywhere and we can't see it? Why do the people in her life eat something that can make her so sick? Why aren't her friends allergic to cow's milk? These are all questions she has asked. I've answered these questions by trying to show her that she's not alone. Daddy's allergic to bee stings. Our dog Lilly is allergic to rice. Papa's allergic to cats. One of her friends is allergic to peanut's. Everybody is sensitive to something. It's my way to showing her that we are all the same because everybody is different.

She like to hear stories where there is a happy ending because she gains hope from them. She likes to see good conquer bad and good things happen to good people. I am raising her with an open mind and heart. I'm showing her by my actions that I will always be here to "keep her safe". I really want her to have her happy ending. I want to see her conquer the challenges she faces everyday and come out confident and strong with everything being okay in the end. I have to have hope to inspire hers.

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