Monday, April 11, 2011

Educating the kids

I am sitting here trying to begin writing this post and have now written and erased my opening line at least 5 times. I have no idea why, but for some reason I am having a hard time jumping into things this morning. Anyhoo, I wanted to write about this past weekend. On Saturday, Emma and I went about our usual routine of piano lesson in the morning and gymnastics in the afternoon. I was sort of on high alert diabetic Mommy mode as soon as I pulled in the parking lot of gymnastics to be honest...simply because of our experience there last week which I wrote about in another post. I was on the look out for the father who so rudely and ignorantly pulled his daughter away from the general vicinity of Emma and I when I had been checking her blood sugar during snack time last week. I parked the car and we walked inside with no sight of this man. Emma went in to her class and I took my usual spot on the floor and began reading my book. (I'm currently reading "127 Hours" by the way...amazing true story of Aron Ralston getting trapped in a canyon and forced to amputate his own arm after a week of being stuck so he could rescue himself and get out alive). So, there I was lost in Aron's world, near the end of the story, reading about him finally coming to the conclusion/decision to amputate...when in walks the father with his kids and his ex-wife. He gave me a short glance and went about his business of waiting for his kids class to begin. A short while later, Emma came out for her snack time and I tested her just as I always do. She was a tad higher than I would like her to be for that time of day, so I decided to give her the snack and a correction needle as well. I wondered how this would all play out with the ignorant father and his daughter standing nearby. Honestly I could care less if it bothered him again...I was simply doing what needed to be done for my kid. I was doing my job as her pancreas...giving her a little boost and helping get those blood sugars down a bit. So, I pulled out the needle, dialed up a dose, and grabbed her arm to have at it. As soon as the little girl caught sight of what I was doing, she walked over and stood there staring at us. I noticed Emma look up and stare back at the kid. At first she looked annoyed because Emma really isn't fond of people (especially strangers) openly staring at her...who is really? I waited to see if she would say anything to this little girl. Apparantly Emma decided that it wasn't worth it...so instead of opening her mouth, she just gave the little girl one of her award winning cheesy to the max smiles (which I find adorable seeing as how she is missing all of her front teeth). The ignorant father was apparantly too wrapped up in chatting with his ex-wife to notice that his precious daughter was now witness to me giving Emma an actual needle...GASP! Which I found absolutely hilarious for some reason. I had a little giggle as well at Emma because not only was she grinning away like the Cheshire cat, but her eyes said something totally different. Her eyes said "Whatchu lookin at girlie? Got a problem?" This all occured in a split second really...and Emma was off to join her class and eat her snack. I put the needle away and began reading again.  Score one for us in the psuedo-education of the future of the world on diabetes management!

6 comments:

  1. Way to go EMMA!!! AND you too! I have been thinking of your experience at Gymnastics last w/e on and off. It has bothered me somewhat.

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  2. Good for you and Emma! It bugs me to no end the glares that ignorant people give. It's not like we're performing surgery...its a tiny drop of blood!

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  3. I love when the D kids stick up for themselves!!!!!!

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  4. Woohoo you gals are so awesome!

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  5. Education... One experience at a time... :)

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  6. D has the same attitude behind it for me as I have with breastfeeding in public. If you watch you may learn something, if you have a problem, dont look. Good for you both!

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