FLOCKED

***  HURRY!  It's not too late to enter my Sugar Bolus Giveaway.... you have until midnight on 9.30.2010 to enter!  Click the link above for details! ***

Awareness

That is a word that I have thought about a lot today.

We are walking in JDRF's Walk to Cure Diabetes on Saturday!  We are ending our money collection at school as part of our Dimes for Diabetes campaign.  We've got some other stuff coming up...  And I've been promoting and advocating the heck out all of it!

Awareness.  I just want people to understand.  To get it.  To care.

Tonight, on the way home from school, Sweetpea and I had this conversation:

Sweetpea:  Mom, Why can't I eat donuts?

Me:  What?  You want a donut?  (could not hear due to LOUD Camp Rock 2 soundtrack blaring...)

Sweetpea:  No.  Well, Yes.  I want a donut.  Can I have a donut?  

Me:  No.  We're eating dinner soon.  And I don't have donuts in the car.

Sweetpea:  Why can't I eat donuts?

Me:  You can eat donuts.  Who said you couldn't eat donuts?

Sweetpea:  You.  You said it wasn't a good idea.

Me:  (cringing) Oh.  Well.... You CAN eat donuts.  Just not everyday.  Eating donuts everyday is a bad idea.  Donuts are full of fat and sugar.  They make your blood sugar high and then you feel yucky.  NO ONE should eat donuts everyday.  That will make you feel sick and you wouldn't be healthy.  You need to put healthy food in your body so that you can have energy to run and play.  Does that make sense?

Sweetpea:  Yes.  So I can have a donut?

Me:  Yes.  You can have a donut.  Not everyday.  Like a special treat.  Like birthday cake.  I LOVE cake but I don't eat it every day because that would'nt be healthy.

Sweetpea:  Ok.  Can we get donuts now?

She's becoming aware of it.  More aware.  

Awareness isn't only about others knowing about and understanding Type 1.  It's also about my daughter coming to terms with the fact that she HAS Type 1 - and all that means.

At home, I got the tester out to test her bg.  I was wiping her finger with an alcohol wipe.

Sweetpea:  That smells like shots.  Yuck.  I hate the smell of shots.

Me too.  Me too.  But that smell has become a normal part of our world.  It no longer smells like the doctor's office or the hospital.  It's now a smell of home.  

When did she put this together?  Probably a long time ago.  But today was the first day she's vocalized it.  I realized in that moment, that we are in for lots more moments like this... where her thoughts and language will be catching up to her awareness.  Every day she's more capable of expressing these feelings.  

I guess it's been easy to pretend that it didn't bother her - because she never really talked about it.  Because she can't remember life before.  But she's aware.  Very aware.  She knows she's different.  She wonders WHY?  

I wish she could live in blissful unawareness forever and let me take on the rest.

But she can't.  So what's left to do?

Advocate!

This afternoon, waiting for us on our porch, was a BIG box from Super Nate and his wonderful Mommy, Laura, from Houston, We Have a Problem!

Guess what it was???

Yup!  We've been FLOCKED!  Noah, The Diabetes Dude, sent Dodge the Flamingo to Nate.  Nate sent him to us.  And we'll send him on.... after he goes to school  After he walks with us...

We were SO EXCITED!

This is a video of Sweetpea opening the box.  This is the first time she sees what's inside...

*** Pause the playlist before viewing.  And speaking of which...I know - the song's a stretch - but it's by the Flamingos!  Couldn't resist! ***

Thanks Super Nate! Thanks Noah!!

Your gift was just what we needed today!