Oh am I learning! Still not a full year since dd's diagnosis, so I'm still learning as we go along...
Dd was invited to a birthday party. For the first time, it wasn't the child of one of my friends and it wasn't a family member--it was a friend from preschool. Dd was so happy to be included. She really wants to go.
I knew it was being held at Stew Leonard's. I've written about this place before. It is a dairy store (kind of like a grocery store), but they have so much more. They also have an area for birthday parties. I have stopped shopping at Stew's because I found there were too many times when nuts were around my daughter. I tried to work things out with the store, but then 504 plans have been taking up most of my time and attention lately. So we just stopped shopping there for a while.
Anyway, dd wanted to go to this party. My dh and I talked about it and decided that since the party room is a separate area from the rest of the store (even a separate entrance), it would probably be O.K. if dd attended with me being chaperone. I looked at their info re: parties online and discovered that this party was to be a princess tea party. O.K., no big deal--they would serve tea sandwiches and then cake later. I figured I'd just bring my own food for dd--no problem. I pictured things like cucumber sandwiches--you know, tiny tea sandwiches.
Something made me call the place today. I called and found out that the tea sandwiches would actually be pb&j!!! EEK! I had already told dd she would be going to the party and she was so excited to be included. Now what??
I ended up calling the mother of the child having the party. What a sweet, dear woman! I told her that dd couldn't go and that I was sorry. I explained about her allergies more clearly and said I should have checked re: food earlier. She said, "No, no, no. I'll just change the menu. It's really such a small part of the party that it won't be a big deal at all. We'd love to have your daughter there." O.K. I love this woman now.
I know there could still be residue from previous parties, but I intend to go ready to scrub things down (at least the areas near dd). I really want her to go and enjoy this. So I will go, watch like a hawk, and if we're uncomfortable, we'll leave. I'm sure now that the menu is changed, dd will be fine.
Lesson: check what the food will be at the party before you say yes!!! I could just imagine all the pb that would have been smeared all over these preschoolers!
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***Enriched***
Wow! What a great new friend! With all the stress of letting kids out of our comfort zones, how refreshing to hear about this mom.
Just arm yourself with a container of Chlorox wipes, and a great big present for the birthday girl.
Thanks for making us smile today.
Daisy