Last week I was delighted to share the news of the Lilly Diabetes and Disney partnership of information, dialog, and how to’s. It has a positive message of what children with diabetes and their families can do, not what they shouldn’t do.

I shared with you the three aspects of the partnership–the Family.com website, the publications including the new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse book featuring Coco the MWD*, and the Birnbaum guide to navigating Disney with diabetes–but what I was tight-lipped about was the fourth aspect of the partnership.

Seriously, I was under strict embargo that I not say a word until today or my entire family would be banned from Disney for life. Well, they didn’t actually threaten that, but I did have to cross my heart.

Are you ready?

This is also a good one!

It’s icing on the proverbial “yes I CAN eat that” cake.

Once Upon a Time Contest

To commemorate the collaboration and spark a national dialogue about diabetes, Denise Jonas, mother of the multi-platinum album selling and Grammy nominated Jonas Brothers, announced today the launch of the Once Upon a Time Contest. Having personal experience with raising a diabetic child after her son Nick was diagnosed at the age of 13, Denise is looking forward to sharing her unique story of how the Jonas  family adjusted their everyday lives upon being impacted by diabetes.

“When Nick was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, our family’s world was turned upside down,” says Denise. “Suddenly, caring for Nick was more than just making sure he was loved, happy and safe; making sure he was healthy, while still living a full and active life, became our top priority. Although the adjustment was challenging, it ultimately brought our family closer together.”

Now, Denise is encouraging parents and caregivers like her to enter the Once Upon a Time Contest by submitting an original written work, such as a poem, story or essay, inspired by their child’s experience with type 1 diabetes. The best entry, as determined by a panel of independent judges, will be featured on Disney Family.com’s type 1 diabetes website, www.family.com/type1, and the winning family will have the opportunity to attend the 2012 children with DIABETES conference, Friends for Life, in Orlando.

For more information on the Once Upon a Time Contest, please visit www.onceuponatimecontest.com. The contest begins today, July 14, and will remain open for entries through November 30, 2011. The winning family will be notified by January 30, 2012.

Check back later today as I add more info about the contest and collaboration.

Good luck!

Further Reading

Introducing Coco, MWD

Mother’s Intuition

She CAN Eat Cookies

Family.com Diabetes Website

Children With Diabetes

07/14/11 Lilly Diabetes, Disney Online and Disney Publishing Worldwide Work Together to Bring Dedicated Lifestyle Website and Custom Publications to Families Affected by Type 1 Diabetes (Press Release)

*MWD = Monkey With Diabetes
(I hereby coin the abbreviation MWD!)

Images courtesy of Lilly Diabetes.

Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way by Lilly Diabetes or Disney for this post. I received materials, including a copy of the book, to use for editorial purposes. Please read the disclosure statement.

Lilly Diabetes and Disney Once Upon a Time Contest is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

Today is the Fourth of July and I am celebrating “freedom.”
Freedom from obligation!

I am functioning in a state of utter exhaustion, both mental and physical. I know you can empathize. I know you feel my pain.

It’s rare that I sleep the night through. And even when I get a straight seven hours I quickly become exhausted again.

I’m pulled in so many directions. My “to do” list is this long. My inbox is overflowing. My snail mail is stacked high.

I have boxes from our move last June that are still unpacked.

I can’t remember the last time I cleaned the bathrooms, let alone the rest of the house.

(Who’s idea was it to let the cleaning lady go when we moved? Oh yeah, mine.)

I work almost full-time. I am the class parent at Q’s school. I lead lunchtime book club this spring. I am on my son’s preschool board of directors.

I write this blog and another. I am moderating a social network for parents of children with diabetes. I am trying to get a business started (D-related, yay!).

When I received an e-mail recently asking me to take a position with the elementary school’s PTA. Do you know what I said?

I said no.

Without guilt, without excuses. Just a simple “thank you for thinking of me, but I cannot commit at this point.”

Liberating!

Freedom! is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

One area where we have struggled is finding a babysitter other than the kids’ grandmother to watch them. Date night is a rarity. If only I could find a responsible teenager or college student in our town with diabetes who would be willing to babysit.

Safesittings, was founded by then teenager Kim Ross who herself has Type 1 diabetes. Her free service seeks to connect families with babysitters. When I looked for one in our area, none came up. Drat! But perhaps there is one in your area.

SAFESITTINGS is a nationwide website that makes available teens with Type 1 diabetes as babysitters for children with diabetes. These teens have been managing their own care for many years. They understand the dangerous highs ands lows inherent in the disease and have the skills to test blood sugars, give insulin injections, adjust insulin pumps and treat hypoglycemia.

Here are some tips from Chicago Now: Tips to Make Diabetes Easier on Sitters

Have you found a babysitter for your T1 child?

Watch founder Kim Ross on dLife:

(Click over for embedded video.)

Babysitter, What’s That? is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

The last time I talked about a television show, it really was Must See-D-TV. I mean how cool is it that there was a contestant on The Amazing Race with diabetes traveling the world, glucose meter in hand, insulin pump at her side?

(Read my interview with Amazing Race winner Nat Strand.)

But this time I have mixed emotions.

I began watching the DVD set of the first season of Modern Family.

No, there is not a main character who is diabetic. The show has nothing to do with diabetes. I find the show pretty entertaining. The cast includes Ed O’Neill who you may remember from Married With Children and Julie Bowen who was Jack’s ex wife on Lost.

So I’m going through the episodes and I am watching the one called “En Garde” in which Manny, the stepson of Ed O’Neal’s character, wins fencing match after fencing match making it to the finals. When he finds out he has to fight a girl, he decides to retire.

His mom and stepdad encourage him to continue. When they arrive at the finals, a woman sits down next to them. They ask if she is the girl’s mom.

Turns out Caroline’s parents have passed away and her nurse from the children’s hospital brings her to the finals. Of course Manny’s parents are supposed to feel bad.

The nurse says “She’s our little miracle. I only wish her father had made it back from Afghanistan to see this.”

In comes Caroline’s cheering section which is comprised of children in wheelchairs and on crutches.

His mom says “Oh my god, we have to stop him.” She and Manny’s stepfather make cutting-your-throat gestures to try to tell him to stop, but he takes this as meaning he should go in for the kill.

He says “Expect no mercy” to which Caroline replies “Bring it on big boy.”

He scores point after point, winning by a landslide.

Feeling bad, the mom asks “So can we take you and Caroline out for an ice cream?”

And as if they added insult to injury, the nurse replies “We can’t. She’s diabetic.”

To which the stepdad mumbles “Of course she is.”

She Can Eat Ice Cream

I was taken aback for a second there. Did they just use diabetes as a way to make the family feel even worse?

And what about disseminating misinformation?

Kids with diabetes can eat ice cream.

Will my daughter’s friends’ parents see this show and decide not to include my daughter in an ice cream social or birthday party because they think she can’t partake?

See, here’s the thing: They make this substance called insulin and miraculously you can eat ice cream and take insulin to cover it.

Wow, see how that works.

Now I’m not saying ice cream is an every day thing. But it is not something that we eschew because of diabetes.

So do I boycott* the show because some writers were sitting around and one said, “Hey, you know what would be hilarious. What if the girl has a really pathetic life and Manny beats the crap out of her at the finals and Manny’s parents offer to get her ice cream. But you know what? She can’t because she’s…wait for it…wait for it… punchline: DIABETIC.”

*No, I haven’t boycotted. I love the show!

Must See D-TV: Modern Family? is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

She threw in three pennies and as she turned back to me
she said that none of her wishes had come true.

Hearing the news of her grandfather’s accidental, early, unforeseen death a few months ago, she began making wishes.

Each night the first star heard her whispers.

She still has moments of sadness and tears. Things remind her of him all the time.

It’s her first real experience with death and she’s still processing it.

She wants closure. She wants to go to his oceanside home. She wants to put something nice on his grave, like “cookies or flowers.”

I, too, needed closure which I did not get, have not gotten.

Over Christmas, my husband built photo ledges above our entry table to display family memories. Though most document 2010, a special one is displayed just for Q.

As she came down our stairs, she took in the photos, one-by-one. Suddenly her eyes lit up, a delighted gasp escaped her mouth, her hands came to her face.

“It’s Papa Gio! Thank you, mommy.”

Make a Wish is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

Now that Q is in school and we are having the occasional illness inducing playdate*, we’ve begun the car seat shuffle. Even though some of Q’s friends could actually sit in R’s car seat, they don’t want to look like a baby. So we take out the car seat and put in the extra booster and have to reinstall the car seat again the next morning. What I wouldn’t give for a third row!

It’s got me thinking that we will need to upgrade to a minivan soon.

I’ve been resistant, oh so resistant.

Maybe because I don’t have a car payment and buying a minivan will mean a loan.

Partly because a little piece of me will die. It’s like that last vestige of youth. Buying a minivan means you are no longer young and unencumbered.

Not that I want to be unencumbered; I love my family.

The gray hairs? Yeah, I could do without those.

Maybe I need a Swagger Wagon.

My Mad Cupcake Skills

*We’ve gotten strep and impetigo from playdates and been exposed to mumps.

(Visit the Toyota Sienna Swagger Wagon YouTube channel for more funny videos. At least I think they’re funny. But what do I know, I’m old and encumbered.)

Tongue-in-Cheek Disclosure: Toyota did not ask me to blog about their Swagger Wagon, but if they’d like to set me up in a Sienna to help with the playdate carseat shuffle and make our 200-miles EACH WAY drive to the endocrinologist a little more comfortable, they know how to reach me.

Where My Kidz At? is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

The Christmas Gift

One weekend my mother, my daughter, and I headed to Chicago to spend the day. Her grandmother had wanted to buy her an American Girl doll for her Christmas present.

When Q came to the case of 20 or so Just Like Me dolls, she quickly picked out the one that she thought looked, well, just like her.

That night as she and the doll sat on the couch in their matching pajamas, ready for bed, Q said about her new doll she named Sophia:

She looks just like me.
She’s a super hero just like me.
She’s fast and strong just like me.
She has diabetes just like me.

Since then, Sophia, along with Rufus and her super hero bear, have been subjected to countless blood sugar checks, injections, and check ups at home.

The Doctor Visit

As we packed for our most recent trip to the endocrinologist (remember it’s 200 miles each way!), she said it was important for Sophia to come along. After all, she has diabetes and needs to see the doctor, too.

After the nurse took a big drop of blood for the A1c test and measured Q’s height and weight, she did the same for Sophia.

After the nurse took Q’s blood pressure and listened to her heartbeat, she did the same for Sophia.

When the doctor came in she asked if her doll was here for an appointment too. Q responded by saying that Sophia has diabetes this week. Sometimes she has diabetes, but sometimes she doesn’t.

After the doctor gave Q the once-over, Sophia got a once-over, too.

Role Play

I think it’s important for younger children to role play and have dolls or stuffed animals that have diabetes too. It’s true that children need someone to identify with since the majority of their friends do not have diabetes (thankfully).

When we upgrade meters, I give her the old one. I give her empty test strip vials and the old insulin pens. Her diabetes supply bag for her dolls includes logbooks. The animals get once overs with the real stethoscope that the nurses kindly gave her in the hospital at diagnosis.

She helps manage their diabetes.

If your newly diagnosed child has not received the Bag of Hope which includes Rufus, request one right away. You only have three months.

Sophia Goes to the Endocrinologist is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

I haven’t read the book The Green Hour: A Daily Dose of Nature for Happier, Healthier, Smarter Kids yet, though it’s on my list. But we did recently take the challenge to spend an hour outside each day for an entire week. (Read more posts about our family’s experience with the National Wildlife Federation’s Be Out There Challenge.)

We moved recently and have not had a fence constructed yet (hopefully by the end of the month) and I feel like we aren’t spending as much time outdoors. Maybe it’s the July heat. Maybe it’s me not wanting to keep an eagle eye on them.

My kids are used to the freedom of spending oodles of time outdoors in the fresh air. They had the perceived sense of freedom in our fenced backyard. I didn’t have to be right there at all times because I knew they couldn’t escape!

Oh boy I can’t wait until we have a fence again.

I am a National Wildlife Foundation Be Out There Founding Mother. They did not ask me to write this post, nor am I compensated in any way.

The Green Hour is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.