It was a nice day to be out of the house...cloudy, windy, and freezing! Brrr! We even went back to the house to grab a warmer coat and hats and mittens. Yup...it's cold. We enjoy going to kid's resale shops with our friends... and then going to craft stores like JoAnn and Michaels. Today was no different. Once we enjoyed searching the racks at Children's Orchard we entered JoAnn. *sigh* yarn!
Part way through our adventure, Miss Ballerina asked to go to the bathroom. We happened to be right next to it...SCORE. When we were washing hands, that quiet little voice whispered that I should check the label on the soap; which was on sale with a cute sign next to it. It was some lemon scented soap that was bright yellow. It made the entire bathroom smell delicious...which says a lot. Guess what the last ingredients were...RED 40, BLUE, and YELLOW. ACK!!!
I washed my hands, and since they were out of paper towels, I ended up wiping them on my jeans. Ugh. But...oh well. Then Littlest Miss said, "Hands!" She wanted to get in on the hand washing fun! But after reading that label there was no way I was going to wash her hands with that soap. So, I just rinsed her hands.
We exited the bathroom and began looking at the yarn selection again. A couple of minutes later Littlest Miss started acting like her bottom hurt or something hurt. I picked her up and tried to console her and instead of getting happier...she got more upset, agitated and angry. Her poor mood escalated until I could barely hold onto her. She thrashed and threw her body around in pain. I flipped her over and looked into her eyes...her pupils were tiny...constricted. Somehow that hand soap had affected her even though it was on my hands and not hers. She never touched the soap directly. Wow.
I quickly paid for my yarn and made a bee line for the car. I buckled her screaming, thrashing form into her car seat and got out the baking soda. I added the baking soda to her sippy cup of water and shook it up. But she refused to drink it. I needed something to get her to drink the water. I remembered that I had a small container in my purse that was empty. I took it out and poured a little water into it. She happily sucked down the water from the tiny cup. After about 4 small cups of baking soda water she started to calm down.
Not only do I have to be aware of all the different types of food that have food dyes but I also have to be aware of hand soaps. I stopped into the health food store on the way home and grabbed a bottle of hand soap that would be safe for her little hands.
I never realized how difficult it would be to keep a toddler away from dyes. They are everywhere. I found them, yesterday, in mayonnaise. REALLY??? They couldn't make it without? Crazy!!!
We are now home...relaxing...and enjoying the happy baby. *huge sigh*
My quest continues...to make sure my home is as dye free as necessary for my little one to be as happy as possible.
Oh, man!!! What a challenge! Scott told me that lots of other countries have outlawed the use of red 40 and other dyes. A few have made it mandatory to label their products with warnings if they use it. Our country--we just keep on going as if it doesn't matter at all.
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