This is Nuts

So guess what I had in my lunch today?

(Yes, Clink, it's a good thing to bring your lunch. Helps cut down on those take-out trips.)

Left over home made mac and cheese (a Renee specialty). Watermelon. Yogurt (Dannon Light Lemon Chiffon -- the only kind I'll eat. Not that I'm picky.). A bottle of water.

And, for dessert?

Dora cookies. Yup, you know, Dora, Dora, Dora the Explorer.

My son has watched Dora for more than a year now. And, I've got to say, it's good TV for kids, first in terms of the stories and secondly for its bilingual speech. Kind of cool how they do it.

And, as a father of two, I gotta tell you this, nobody is better at marketing than the folks at Dora. Walk through a supermarket and Dora is on everything. I couldn't believe it until I actually started paying attention to this stuff.

She, of course, is on cookies. Yummy almost animal cracker-like cookies. Delicious cookies, in fact. My favorite one is the cookie in the shape of Boots the Monkey. You don't know Boots the Monkey? What planet are you from? Boots is Dora's best friend. Because, who doesn't have a monkey as a best friend. First it was Eastwood, now it's Dora. Makes perfect sense to me.

Anyway, well, by now you want to know why I had a bag of Dora cookies for dessert today.

I had them because of five little words my wife discovered on the label:

May contain traces of tree nuts.

A month ago and that would have meant nothing. However, now that Aidan has been officially deemed allergic to tree nuts, we have to know this stuff. And that, apparently, means reading labels on things you wouldn't normally read.

I mean, nuts in Dora cookies? No, but possibly nuts used in the same factory or something like that.

But, let me tell you, once the doctor prescribes an Epi-Pen for you to walk around with wherever you are with your child, you're not into taking risks about this stuff -- even if he hasn't had any issues with Dora cookies before.

I'll spare you the story of what led us to discover Aidan was allergic, but the corresponding bloodwork did confirm the tree nut allergy, with an overwhelming allergic response to pistachios and cashews.

Our biggest concern was peanut butter. And, for the time when we waited for the results, Aidan couldn't have any type of nut whatsoever (per doc's orders). Now, he's back to his beloved peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Thank goodness for that!

So, some research for us to do -- learning more about this tree nut thing. He's been great about it, even asking the other night if watermellon has nuts in it.

But, in the meantime, or at least until the bag is finished, I'll be enjoying my fair share (and then some) of Dora cookies.

What else? I got nothin'.