Three Little Words

Many of us enjoy hearing those three little words. But each of us may enjoy a different set of three little words. For me, my favorite ones are “Can I help?” Matt's, of course, are “The Bears won.” My children love to hear “School is out.” Where as I am usually ready for “School is in.” My mother-in-law's favorite three little words are “Keep your fork!” because that usually means there will dessert after dinner. For others it may be the store's sign reading “We are open” when you have just used your last diaper. Or sometimes just a simple “I've got this!” And, obviously everyone enjoys hearing those famous three little words “I love you.”

But one day I heard three little words that I never thought I would hear.

We had to take our youngest child, Zech, to the doctor for an unexplained rash. The raised bumps combined with the duration and consistency of them made us quite concerned. We had deducted that his rash and other issues were caused by an allergic reaction to something. So the doctor was calling us back with the results to his blood draw. When she called back I wasn't expecting what I heard. But, I count by blessings in the phrases I didn't hear. Some parents' three little words are:

Could be contagious,

Might cause sterility,

Traumatic Brain Injury,

This is cancer,

Doesn't look good, or

Prepare for death

No, thankfully, I didn't hear any of those phrases. But my three little words were just as life changing. My three little words were “Get a pen.”

Get a pen? Are you kidding? You are only telling me what he is allergic to. How hard can that be to remember?

Trust me. It proved to be hard. There were five things on that list. Five! How can one little boy be allergic to five different elements? And we aren't talking about five basic things here. The doctor just should have just told us he wasn't allowed to eat ever again. In addition to completely limiting his dietary intake, we also had to get rid of our dog—or at least turn her into an outdoor pet.

Our lives have changed quite a bit since the restrictive list was given to us. We have adjusted. Some things we have completely taken out of the kitchen. Some things we don't cook as often. Other times we have to make him is own separate meal. It is more work for me but his smile and big blue eyes are worth it.

And today his favorite three little words are “Happy Birthday Zechariah.” Let's go made a gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free cake to celebrate. Yuck!

I love you Zechy--even through the endless rashes, the explosive diapers and the difficult breathing. You may be the most challenging one of the bunch but that is just what makes you even more special. Welcome to the Terrible Twos...and let's go get another blood draw to see if you may have outgrown some of these restrictions. Maybe, just maybe, you will be able to have a real birthday cake this year. I'll keep my fingers crossed.