Allergy-Free Passover

SO IS CHAROSET STILL LEGIT WITHOUT THE NUTS??

(Separately, check out another article about food allergies posted by a reader - thank you!)

Calling Fellow Neurotic Parents....

If anyone out there with a kid with food allergies has taken a cruise, then Poker Chick needs your advice! Good news: Poker Chick's family is trying to get together on a cruise. Bad news: cruises mean lots of buffets, a food allergy nightmare, especially when you're miles and miles from a hospital. Now, she can't believe she's about to say this, but after some initial research she's seriously considering a Disney cruise. Stories of special chocolates on the pillow. Nut, dairy and egg free birthday cakes. Entire menus prepared just for your kid. This is the stuff dreams are made of.

But before she shelves her grownup coolness and resigns to a gambling-free (gasp! no poker?) trip, she wants to see if anyone has heard anything good about food allergies on any other cruise line. There's also the question of whether or not a Disney cruise will be upscale enough for Big Boy, she still has to sell him on it. Any tips, advice, links would be greatly appreciated (including where to go, which is also open!)

Poker Chick can't believe this place is closing!! The Underground bar, a place she used to meet friends in Jerusalem....

On a lighter note...

Did anyone catch Christopher Walken's opening monologue on SNL this weekend? Poker Chick just saw it last night and thought it was brilliant. She was looking for the clip on YouTube to post for you peeps, but it's been deleted due to "third party copyright". Still, she was pleased to see it labeled as the "funniest SNL monologue ever". We're glad to see that Poker Chick is not the only person in the world able to sit at home alone with a pint of ice cream and recognize comic genius when she sees it. Laser cats....

Facts on Rotavirus

Rotavirus is a serious illness whose pattern is exactly like what the mini experienced (see pity party post). It lasts almost two weeks, and it's hell, peeps. Just so you don't think Poker Chick's exaggerating, the CDC calls it a "highly contagious disease that causes life-threatening diarrhea in young children". Each year, it kills 600,000 children worldwide.

Pictured, above: Evil little Rotavirus bug

In 2006 the FDA approved a vaccine for this, so for those with newborns if your doctor recommends it we seriously advise you to listen. The mini spent 3 days in the hospital the first time around and was rapidly dehydrated this time as well. Though it is uncommon to get a second time, at least so severely, the mini's pediatrician confirmed the rota diagnosis. Interesting side note: studies show that 69% of nurses can accurately identify a child infected by rota in minutes by the smell alone!

The upshot of all this though? Renewed confidence in Poker Chick's parenting skills! Or, at the very least, her uncanny knack for diagnosing viruses. She's not so clueless after all!