The Neverending Story

At the end of July, Liam was due for another visit to see his allergist, Dr. Wodell.  We were able to keep him off his allergy meds while on vacation in Brigantine, which meant he could finally get some much-needed testing done.  His allergies in the spring and through most of the summer had been so bad that we knew we had to be missing something!

Allergy testing is no fun whatsoever, but you'd never know it from this face!  He was such an awesome trooper throughout the process.  He was tested for a bunch of environmental allergens, along with food allergy-suspect kiwi; all in all, 18 different possible allergens.  He was all smiles in the beginning...

"See my caterpillar tests?"

... but then this started happening.

And this.

The results?  Other than an extremely itchy and uncomfortable kid (with a lollipop in each hand to keep him from scratching!)?

Add these to the list of Liam's allergies:
Kiwi
Dust mites
Trees
Grasses
Weeds
Molds
Dogs

But not these:
Cockroaches (!)
Ragweed
Cats
Horses
Rabbits

Well, that's a relief.

I think we're keeping the makers of Children's Allegra in business.

Still no signs of allergies in Joergen, although he now asks us whether or not certain foods are "safe"-- "Dat safe for me Mommy?  Dat cow milk or soy milk?"  Although mostly unnecessary, I do appreciate that Joergen has taken on some of Liam's allergies as his own.  The boys also like to play a game where one will point to an imaginary peanut, yell "PEANUT!!" and they both run away screaming.  Ha!

Lights, Camera, Action!

Confidentiality agreements prevented us from posting about this earlier... but the cat is finally out of the bag!!  

Back in May, Liam spent an afternoon filming for the "Sprout Stretch" segment of The Goodnight Show on PBS's Sprout network!  He filmed for two episodes at a little production studion outside Philly, one of which finally aired last night.  Check it out (and please pardon the makeshift recording)!

It was so much fun watching Liam's experience on the set!  He loves this show, and especially the host, Nina, and he was absolutely star-struck when she first came on the scene.  I couldn't believe how comfortable he was on set despite all the production crew, cameras, bright lights, and the giant green screen!  He engaged with the director right off the bat (shocker, I know), who quickly deemed Liam the "President of Nina's Fan Club", and he did so well for his first taping that they asked him to stick around to do another.   This particular segment was actually the second one he shot of the day, and I can't wait to see the first one when you his eyes just sparkled with excitement!  We left the studio shortly after he filmed this segment, and this is what happened just moments later:

I love how he fell asleep clutching his "goody bag" from the show.  Perhaps there is such a thing as too much excitement for our Liam after all?

For any of you who get the Sprout channel, the "Sprout Stretch" segment airs at 6:27 each night, and shows up as Thomas the Tank Engine on the cable channel guide.  Stay tuned!

****UPDATE****

Liam's second (but really first) episode aired just a week after this one, and we were thrilled to have it come in before the big move!  Since both episodses were recorded on our DVR, which was soon to be erased in the move, I attempted a slightly better recording of each one here:

#liamfuturestar :)