Saturday, March 26, 2011

It Was "Me"...Now, It Is "He"...

As I looked for Joe's exit from the school building after the dismissal bell yesterday, I was slightly perplexed that I didn't see his jiggly-jowls and his exuberant gait come bounding toward me in his customary "exit from school - throw my backpack at mom - and go wrestle with my friends on the mud-encrusted snow mound" way.




I gazed.

I scanned.

I perused.

No sign of Joe was appreciated. Then, through the crowd of mingling parents I see him. I see the back of his coat and his hat. I see him sitting on a grass patch amidst the snow and mud patches. His legs are spread out and Woodchuck is opened and splayed out between his legs. He is somewhat hunched over. His hands are ungloved. The glucometer is loaded. The Delica is "cocked". He is holding his pointer finger out shakily. The lancing device is pressed to his flesh. The cocked-needle is released. 5-4-3-2-1... a 68 is obtained.

Joe looks up and sees me watching.

"Mom, I felt low so I thought I should just do a check ... I think I'll have 3 glucose tabs and then go play Zombie Tag ...."

********

When did this happen? I have "mother-birded" this child for years. I have been the one to do the check immediately after school to determine how much "boosting" he needed prior to playing with his friends. It has been me, checking his blood sugars as he slid, as he ran, as he sashayed, as he scootered, as he lived the life of a "normal" child. It has been me that has been found loitering in stranger's backyards, as Joe joined the 'hood kids for a game of Hide And Seek or Tag. It has been me weighing, and measuring, and carb counting. It has been me standing immediately rink-side, as he plays hockey out back. It has been me waiting, watching, anticipating lows. It has been me teaching him. It has been me talking to him as we go. It has been me asking him to "slow down" and listen to how his body is feeling.

It has been me.

Now, it is becoming he.

A day-in-the-life of watching independence evolve.


For more of our day-in-the-life please visit us at:  http://www.betabuddies.blogspot.com/