Destructo-Boy

Apparently The Grand-Mater Familias feels that poor Destructo-Boy is getting shafted in this blog and "he feels left-out." (Never mind the fact that Destructo-Boy just recently had his 2nd birthday, and despite showing signs of high intelligence, he still can't read).

Anyway, since I hadn't really written about him, I thought I would devote a post to the woes of Destructo-Boy.  Like all good mothers, I faithfully took Destructo-Boy to see Homeopathic Doctor for his 2nd-year check-up.  And, like all good Doctors seeing patients under the age of 3, Homepathic Doctor ordered a lead test for Destructo-Boy.  As any mom of a 2 year-old knows, getting a blood draw on a toddler is NOT a fun activity. So, like all procrastinators, I put it off, and put it off until finally getting it done in early April.

Much to our surprise, a  week later we got a very warm, inviting, friendly, helpful (read...the sarcasm folks) letter from the health department informing us that our child "was exposed to lead"   Like all "bad news letters", this one came on a Saturday, when all offices are closed and you can't do anything about it until Monday.   Anyway, on Monday, I obviously put a frantic call into Homeopathic Doctor and apparently his level was 14.  Not total and complete panic level, but high enough to pay attention to.

The suprising part, is we really have no idea how he could have been exposed to lead.  We don't live in an old house, so there definitely should not be any lead paint around.  I don't think it would be in our pipes or in soil either, however that might be worth testing.

Anyway, since iron, calcium and vitamin C are very important for protection against lead damage  I really need to work on upping his iron, calcium and vitamin C consumption.  Vitamin C is pretty easy to increase, we always have a 2 lb. bottle of sodium ascorbate powder on hand.  I also have some freeze-dried liver capsules , so I'm  trying to frantically  hide sodium ascorbate powder and dried-liver in his food.....usually peanut-butter.   I do have a cast-iron skillet, so I guess I need to season that up and use it more!

I'm still in need of other ideas to get iron-rich foods into a stubborn 2-yo.  He didn't go for my blackstrap molasses sundae, and isn't terribly fond of spinach.  Of course, we could go the supplement route, but iron supplements tend to not be very well absorbed, not to mention they are notorious for causing other issues.

I'm always a fan of getting necessary nutrients from REAL FOOD and I recently stumbled across this handy-dandy little chart and this one  listing the iron content of various foods.  Looks like we need to start adding canned clams to our diet!  Anyone with any good, toddler-friendly recipies..