Cacahuate-free Easter bunny

There have been community Easter egg hunts all over this region for a week now. We have not gone to any. When Maria’s pre-school teacher told me she was hosting a hunt at school, I was less than thrilled. But, thank goodness for Jolly Rancher jelly beans and Yogos.

Maria is allergic to peanuts and isn’t allowed to eat other nuts or seafood until she’s tested again at 5. There are few candies she can eat. There is a lot of explaining on our part about what is safe and what is not. About how sharing is cool, but don’t share food and treats, por favor. I can’t tell her tainted food can kill her. She’s only 3. We talk about “safe’’ foods and treats. We talk about how some foods can make her very sick and why we have to read every single food label.

We carry an Epi pen, an instrument of horror and hope. You pray never to have to use it, and yet, you are grateful to have it.

I’ve had to learn to say peanut, mani, cacahuate at Mexican restaurants and my latest goal is to teach her the Spanish translations for various nuts, but since we don’t eat them or see them, the learning has been slow. Sometimes I feel like she just needs to always wear a big sticker: No avellanas, almendras, anacardos, castañas, piñones.

Ridiculous, perhaps.

But this is why, despite my having a million Los Pollitos tees in inventory, I prefer to dress her in this. No kidding. It has been so much a part of her wardrobe my brother asked if Maria had any other T-shirts. Pues claro, pero the Mami is a little nuts when it comes to this topic.