Back to School with my Smarties!

Well my "Smarties" are back in school now....and for one of them, her school supply box includes more than pencils and glue sticks.  It includes SMARTIES!

Back to school means:

....shopping for new clothes!

..... trying on new shoes!

....labeling school supplies.

...meeting your new teacher and making new friends!

 But for Ally, Back to School means much more:

 ...carefully planning her visits to the clinic for blood sugar checks around her new schedule.

...shopping for supplies - the emergency diabetes kit kind (Juicy Juice boxes, glucose tablets, extra test strips, extra blood glucose meter,  alcohol wipes, extra batteries, syringes,  an extra Glucagon, glucose gel, etc.)

...planning school lunches and preparing carbohydrate counts for them.

...educating new teachers and staff to recognize high and low blood sugar symptoms.

...training for emergency Glucagon administration.

Lucky for me, I am not alone.  I have found several other Parents of Children With Diabetes, who have shared their Back to School ideas and resources.

You may have noticed a new look here at Life is Like a Box of Chocolates.  Did you also notice those cute Hugs n Kisses Pals on the right?  I have listed several of the other blogging parents of children with Type 1 Diabetes on my Blogroll.  (If you don't see your name, please comment here, I'd love to add you!)

Some of the most helpful back to school ideas came to me from Beta Buddies, who shared all of her homemade documents for "Taking D to School."  I also have read, and re-read Sugar's 504 Plan at Candy Hearts.

Heidi at D-Tales shared a fantastic letter that she shares with the families of all of her T1 son's classmates at the beginning of each school year.  I used this as a template for creating our own letter to Ally's classmates and their families.  After reading a book to the class and speaking with the second graders about diabetes, I sent the letter home.  I had so many people - some whom I had never met before - stop me at Open House and tell me how great the letter was and that they really appreciated the information.  Check out Heidi's letter here. 

I have listed these and other "Taking Diabetes to School" links under another tab on my "new and improved" website.  Check out Educate Me About Type 1 D on the tab above.  (If you have written about your great idea for "Taking Diabetes to School", please feel free to share a link in my comments and I will add you to my list of resources.)

I realize that everyone is probably back in school by now.  But I wanted to introduce you to my new "tabs."  Also, the sad truth is that there may be someone new to the "Parents of D" group any time, as so many more children are diagnosed each day.  I Hope I can be as resourceful to them as so many of you have been to me!

Wowwie Wow Wow...another GiveAway!

Wowwie Wow Wow!  (I've been reading too much Junie B. Jones with my 2nd grader!) 

Have you seen the sweet prize that Hallie is giving away at The Princess and The Pump?  It's a pump pouch from Too Sweet Boutique.  They are oh so fashionable and too cute!

Don't forget to skip over to The Princess and The Pump to register to win one of these Too Sweet pouches before Friday, September 3.

Water Bottle Fiasco!

It was a water bottle fiasco today!  I asked Ally's teacher that she be allowed to keep a water bottle in the classroom in case she is thirsty so that she does not have to go all the way down the looonnnggg hallway to the drinking fountain.  She was happy to oblige.  She did, however, ask that she keep it in her cubby (version of a locker in the classroom) so that water did not get "everywhere."  So that was the plan.  I carefully chose a water bottle that I thought would withstand the bumps and bruises of a 2nd grader.  Sent it to school.  She came back home with it.  WHAT? 

Turns out that after filling the water bottle, Ally did not properly screw the lid on.  Now you see where this is going...and I direct you back to the teachers comment about "not getting water everywhere."  AWESOME!
(That was sarcastic!)  Ally put her water bottle in said cubby as directed by the teacher.  She went back to her seat...all was well.  Until the end of the day when she went back to her cubby and found the water bottle tipped over, water dripping down from her cubby into other cubbies below!  AWESOME! (Yes, again!) 

Next she enlists help from the teacher (who I am only assuming is not at all pleased with this situation) to clean up the water spill.  I'm guessing that from her description she didn't drink much of the water during class...as it appears that a Niagara Falls effect was happening at the cubbies!  Oh my!  AWESOME!  The water was cleaned up.  And then they discovered that her brand new Math workbook (which I only had to pay $25 for) was now ruined.  Not salvageable!  One more time...AWESOME!!!!!!!  Her teacher told her she'd have to see IF she could find her a new math book.  Then told her to take the water bottle home. 

Ally's BG shoots up when she is nervous, I checked her CGM...there was a bit of a spike right about the end of the day.  Poor thing.  I feel bad for her, even though it was her carelessness that caused it.  So now my question to you....do you send a water bottle to school with your T1 child?  Do you have one that you really love?  Better yet, do you have one that is spill-proof???!?!?!?!  Ah yes, and 2nd grader friendly too?  Please share!!!