On one of the coldest days of the year my daughter got to go swimming. Her awesome toddler class teacher had us bring swimsuits for the little ones. She cranked up the heat and set up the baby pool. Funky had a super time as is clear from these pictures.
So this weekend we had some early birthday celebrations going on for AJ. I will be posting some pics and more info later. On Saturday night we were having family over and I was baking him a chocolate cake with chocolate icing, per his request. As he was helping me make it I almost started crying because I started to think back to when he was first diagnosed. As I'm sure is the case with any parent who receives surprising or difficult news about their child, I went through a type of mourning period. I started to think about all of the things that AJ might miss out on. For whatever reason one of the things I was upset about was baking. I have many childhood memories of making my birthday cake with my Mom. She would always let me lick the batter from the mixers or the bowl. I never thought AJ and I would be able to share that experience together. However, now that he is on an insulin pump we do have greater flexibility. Plus, the truth of the matter is that we have learned not to be so worried and rigid with his eating anymore. Did I know exactly what the carbs would be for a lick of the spoon? No. Was it possible that his blood sugar would spike afterwards? Yes. Yet I still let him do it. Overall, his numbers are great and I felt that it was an important part of my childhood that I wanted to share with him. I'm so glad I did because we had a lot of fun. It also made me reflect on all the positives that have come out of his diagnosis. The biggest plus is that we have been able to see how supportive our friends and family are.
On an unrelated side note about chocolate Funky Chicken managed to get into a leftover goody bag. She didn't eat any paper but managed to somehow suck the chocolate out of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. She was covered in chocolate and quite delighted with herself.
AJ got to have some fun with Daddy in the snow. Here he is trying to use the snow brush as a baseball bat.
So let me start by clearing up a common diabetic myth. Many times people will ask me in regards to AJ, "Oh, can he eat that?". Other moms have even gone out of the way to call before a child's birthday party to see if they can have another option available for him besides the cake. Now don't get me wrong I truly appreciate the sentiment and I know that everyone is just being kind. Usually our husband and I just give each other a look and smile. We laugh about it for two reasons. The first is that while eating a ton of junk is not ideal, AJ can have anything as long as we give him the appropriate amount of insulin. Of course we try not to have him eat candy all day long, but that is the same as any other parent. The second reason we laugh is that AJ has quite the sweet tooth. I try to really limit the candy but my husband has differing views on the matter. I think part of it is wanting him to be "normal". Plus, from what I gather he grew up with lots of sweets around (not that I didn't). Whatever the case may be AJ definitely has his share of sweets. We recently went to a b-day party with a pinata. So tonight he picked a Butterfinger from the bag of goodies. It was his first Butterfinger experience. Well to say he liked it was an understatement. He took it upstairs while I was finishing up the dishes. Next thing I heard was "Oh my G-d". My husband said I needed to see the look on his face as he savored every bite. And I thought only women could get the big O from chocolate:)
Oh and by the way one more diabetic lesson for the day. Sugar free is not the same as carbohydrate free. We don't count sugar we count carbs. Believe it or not sometimes items that are sugar free will have more carbs than their regular counterpart. Plus, they can often be harsh on the tummy.
Yes, that has been stuck in my head all day. So I typically have a rule about not discussing politics or religion. However, I felt I just couldn't let the day go by without acknowledging this historic occasion. I did indeed support Obama from the start, but today was about so much more than that. I won't bore you with any lengthy explanation. I'm sure you heard enough from the commentators today. I just hope that the positive feelings of today still remain tomorrow. We have so much work to do in this country and beyond. When I think about the state of the world today I almost can't comprehend it. But I do know that there are things even on a small scale that we all can do to help. My pledge to myself and my family is that I will try to do more for them and for others.
So a couple of weeks ago I was catching up on some Tivo and I decided to watch Private Practice. I got cozy under the blanket and was expecting nothing that would raise my blood pressure other than the usual ogling of Tim Daly or Taye Diggs. It was a short while later that I realized a main part of the story line dealt with a Type 1 Diabetic little boy. His father had kidnapped him in order to protect him from his abusive stepfather. It was discovered he was kidnapped because they tracked down the serial # on his insulin pump. I was so shocked to actually see an insulin pump on TV!! Granted the thing looked ancient and there were definitely some medical inconsistencies. However, I think overall they did a good job.
