School Daze

  Since Ryan's diagnosis a little over a month ago, I have become very familiar with his elementary school and a lot of the staff. All the teachers and other admin have been really wonderful during this craziness that has become my day to day life.
  I have been going up there every day to administer his lunch time insulin and blood sugar reading. That will soon change after certified staff is trained to give him his injections without me being there.
  What I have found interesting from my short visits into Ryan's Kindergarten classroom is the sheer curiosity from the other kids about diabetes. They all want to know about the shots and if they hurt or not. They also ask about food Ryan can eat and what he can't eat. They ask why I pack him a different snack than what everyone else eats and wonder about all the water he drinks... not juice.
  Food was the secondary reason I visited Ryan at school today. Every now and then they have a special treat day and today was Italian ice.
  Even though they offer a sugar free version that doesn't give Ryan a green light to eat all he wants. In fact, and I might be off about this, but from what I have googled and researched, the sugar free ice contains more carbs than he is allowed in a whole meal.
  Needless to say, that is a no go. The other hang up was that the treat is served directly following lunch where he would have already consumed some carbs to be eaten immediately after taking his insulin so his sugar doesn't plummet.
  So I found myself smack in the middle of a moment where having a diabetic child can become really heartbreaking due to something that may seem so trivial to others. The bottom line is that he can't have the special treat like the other kids.
  I broke the news to him yesterday and he cried. Not because he couldn't have something he wanted. But because of the reason he couldn't have it.
  In Kidville it really sucks when you can't have a treat because of something you can't help while everyone else around you gets to enjoy it. In Grownupville it sucks too but at least we can rationalize it better.
  So I wiped his tears and I told him that I was going to bring him his own special treat, one that he could have, and one that nobody else could get.
  He loves those little angel food cake fruit cups that the grocery stores sell in the produce section. They are only 11 grams of carbs. I added a couple strawberries, a few blueberries, and some whipped cream. It looked way better than the Italian ice and a group of kids from his class gathered around us to drool at the fruit as they ate their ice.
  Did I have to pack a can of whip cream in a lunchbox with ice packs and bring it up there so the cream would be nice and fluffy when I put it on the cake? Yep.
  Did I have to pre-cut all the strawberries? Yes.
  Did I have to dirty up some tupperware and dig through the cabinets to find the last plastic fork? Uh huh.
  Was it harder to plan all this out than it would be to hand him a dollar for "sugar free" ice and just cross my fingers that his sugar wouldn't sky rocket. You bet.
   Did I adore the grin Ryan got when all the other kids jealously talked about how much they loved strawberries, as they peered over his shoulder to look at his delicious cake?  Big time. So? Sue me.
  The fact that I ate lunch with him and sat with him and his classmates on the ground during special treat time was also pretty cool... from a Kindergartners point of view anyway.
  That will pass soon I'm sure and he won't even want his friends to see me picking him up from school in the afternoons much less hanging out with him at lunch.
  I am totally taking the time to appreciate that right now.

I'll end this post with a list of things I learned today from Ryan's classmates:


1.) Addison's dog threw up yesterday (probably months ago but it's still big news) and her brother was grossed out about it.
2.) Ally likes Tinkerbell and sparkles.
3.) Ryan got in trouble for drawing on the floor (and he wasn't thrilled about being ratted out).
4.) Three kids knew (and were happy to tell me) exactly how many times Ryan has been "clicked down" on the behavior chart since starting school. Twice. (They were accurate.)
5.) Madison loooooved my purse.
6.) My name isn't Ashley with his class. It's "Ryan's Mom"
7.) Ally liked my hair (even though it was styled in "that big fuzzy ball on the back of your head" as Ryan calls it.)
8.) My shirt today is pretty...Ally said so.
9.) I need to hang out with Kindergarteners more often for the ego boost.
10.) They are all totally accepting of Ryan being a little different due to the diabetes. They ask questions and move on, treating him the same as they treat any other kid. There is a lesson in that, folks.