We found some peanuts. We cracked them open. Fun ensued.

I bought this 3 lb. bag of organic peanuts in the shell at the grocery the other day. I have no idea why. I don’t really have plans for these peanuts. But the 2yo loves them.

Let me also add this, before I get to my point:

I’m a freak-a-holic about children and allergenic foods. I read all this crap important research before the 8yo was born. About how even if food allergies don’t run in your family, but other allergies do — I personally have had most auto-immune diseases known to man — then you should be careful of allergenic foods, which can be triggers.

I sent the 8yo to day care with a chart of what foods she was not allowed to eat. No chocolate. No strawberries. No raisins and hot dogs [for safety reasons, of course]. No eggs. And of course, no peanut butter.

I have photographs of the now-8yo enjoying her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the age of 3, when the allergy gurus finally deemed she was old enough to try the offending legume. The pics are adorable. And we were really fortunate with her. So far, the 8yo has nothing more than a raging case of hay fever….same as everyone else in my family.

When the 2yo came home at the age of 7 1/2 months, he was already eating table foods. Basically, he’d eat anything he could get his hands on. And I had no real way of knowing either his birth family’s medical history, or what he’d eaten already in the past few months.

So I started from scratch, testing each food, just as I had with the 8yo at the same age. The 2yo probably made it to the age of 1 or so before he had some chocolate, and strawberries. I didn’t worry about eggs this time around. And he could chew nuts [I learned by accident] before his 1-year molars came in. So I wasn’t too worried about him choking.

But I was determined to wait til he was 3 to give him peanuts. You know, just as a precaution.

Well you know, children have a way of handling these issues for you. As I mentioned last year, the 2yo took it upon himself to demonstrate that he’s not allergic to peanuts. And he’s been enjoying large quantities of peanut butter the last 9 months or so. But this was his first exposure to real peanuts.

I discovered quickly that the process was just as much fun to him as eating the peanuts. He tried hard to crack the peanuts open, and was successful a couple of times. The rest of them he handed to me, instructing me: "Mommy, smash it!" And so I would. And he’d eat the peanuts, get down from the table, throw the shell away, and come back to start again.

This is one of those things I guess that’s cutest when it’s your own kid. Because every single thing the 2yo does is precious. Don’t ya know.