Zombies and The Lemon Cake Scare

A few thoughts this day after Halloween:

Kaya, my four-year old, requested to be a zombie ballerina for Halloween.  She watched a YouTube video of someone applying zombie make-up with me and came up with the idea.  I love zombies and encouraged her.  I know some might find the idea repulsive and inappropriate to dress your kid as a flesh-eating member of the undead horde.  Halloween is a time to explore our collective dark side.  It is a time to face our fears and actually become the boogeyman, if only briefly.

I realize she is just a pre-schooler.  I realize the impact such strong imagery can have.   Kaya has never been that afraid of monsters or the dark.   The real monsters are not demons, goblins, and zombies.  Those creatures do not exist.  The real monsters are human beings who do terrible things to other human beings.

Some might say we are desensitizing her to gore and violence.  I truly do not think that the case.   It is all in good fun and reflects the ancient cathartic purpose of this traditional holiday.  And… she was really freaking scary and awesome looking.

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On the subject of Zombies:  Max Brooks, the author of The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z, was on Sunday Morning on CBS.  He stated, “My advice for anyone wanting to write a zombie book or become a zombie fan: Get a girlfriend first.”   I am so glad that I have Gioia.

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My mother thoughtfully made a dairy-free cake for Shyla to eat at my sister’s house.  She knew this brand of cake batter was usually “safe” for Shy.   Unfortunately, she wasn’t aware that lemon was one of the foods we are supposed to avoid. Before I was aware of all this, Shyla started shoveling the cake in her mouth.   When I found out the cake had lemon in it, in my usual overly paranoid response, I pulled the cake away from her.  My mom felt horrible.

That is one of the many reasons why galactosemia sucks.   The cake is probably just fine for Shyla.   Lemon doesn’t contain that much galactose.  And, the amount used was probably very small.  But, as a parent, you find yourself being hyper-vigilant.   There is so little out there to tell us what effects her diet really has.   Heck, even her blood “levels” are not that instructive because the human body produces galactose on its own.  Some kids naturally have higher levels.

She is, of course, just fine.  There is no reason she shouldn’t be.   It’s not like she chugged a glass of milk.   I just hope this anxiety over food doesn’t create more problems for my little Shy.

*Update 11/2:  Turns out my mom looked up the cake-mix on the PGC website so it was completely safe and demonstrates our level of anxiety even more.

**Update 11/4:  Well, even though it was on the PGC website, the cake is something we should avoid.  See?  Enough to drive a parent crazy.