Be my "dye free" Valentine?!?!

As you may know G man has an intolerance to red dye.  It makes him act as if he has ADHD and he becomes very uncontrollable and is easily agitated.   We found this out last spring after talking with a friend and then consulting our Pediatrician. G man cannot have foods or drinks that are dyed artificially (easy enough to check in the ingredients) which includes red, pink, orange, and purple.  I say all that so that you understand my fear and nervousness for the upcoming holiday... Valentine's Day.  All the goodies that are given during this time are red, pink, and purple.  Halloween didn't bring me this much anxiety because we could clear out his treat bucket of the dyed candy and he still had quite a bit of chocolate and other candy that he could eat.

So what am I doing to prepare for this??  I have made up about 6 bags of dye free treats (rice krispies, real fruit roll ups, honey grahms  and granola bars.) to carry with us to church and other fun gatherings so that he has an alternative.  I have also asked our homeschool group not to put red dyed candy in his Valentine bucket at our party. Even though I requested this not to happen it would be unreasonable to expect others to watch out for him as much as I do. I will also make him up an "alternate" bag with suckers that are blue and orange to trade out any of the cute valentines with red candy attached to it.

Although I am nervous about this red dyed holiday I am not nervous about how G man will handle it.  During Halloween G man was very understanding.  When he was given a piece of candy he knew he couldn't have he didn't gripe or complain, he said, thank you and moved on.  When we got home and his dad and I took all the dyed candy out G man was still so excited about what he had left!  We had one mishap when a lady held out a large bucket for the kids to chose from and G man dug through it for longer then he probably should have looking for a piece of candy that he knew he could eat.  The woman accused him of being ungrateful and greedy.  Momma bear quickly jumped in and explained that he was not able to eat red dyed foods.  The woman was still grumpy about the situation so we left.  When G man asked why he couldn't have the candy I explained that sometimes the right thing to do is to just walk away.  I think the reason why he is so good about not eating the things with red in them is that he hates the affect red dye has on him as much as we do.  He is in trouble and spends most of his time in time out not playing!

While I know red dye intolerance is an inconvenience and not a life threatening allergy I also know that I want to enjoy my son and the time we have together and not spend that time with him mad and in trouble.  Below are some awesome alternatives (except for 10 and 15) to red dyed treats that I got from http://www.thedatingdivas.com/holidays/valentines-day/valentines-day-round-up-food/ and plan on making some of it.