The following is adapted from a page of "The Travelling Notebook - A day in the life of a family of a child with Type 1 Diabetes" --- the physical blog being mailed around the world


A 5 year old boy gets up at 7am, sleepy as usual, but in a good mood.
On the weekdays, he goes to school.
He doesn't like to eat too much too early, so usually he drinks only milk at home, and the rest of breakfast he has at school.
School starts around 8am. The boy arrives at school and the first thing he does, is hand the teacher his special bag. He does this before taking his coat off. In the bag there are dextrose tabs, the blood glucose testing meter, alcohol wipes. The rest of the material, reminders of his disease, are in a cupboard in the classroom and the glucagon resting in the refrigerator.

But first, and foremost, he is a kid.

So today he did what he usually does on his way home from school : he teased and pushed his younger brother. He loves to bug his brother.
It gets very rowdy on the way home. Luckily home is not far. We walk. We have to cross a street, and it's usually a fight between the two to see who will press the WALK button first. Usually, I end up pressing it, while the boys push each other and one ends up falling...oh the joy!

Then they HAVE to go up and down some stairs belonging to the local community center. I find it very annoying and have restricted it to only on the way home, and not to school, otherwise we would always be late for school. The kids love it though...running up the ramp, then going around the corner, and reappearing to come down the steps....and back up again, and do the circuit in reverse. I wait patiently...next to the other parents whose kids have also taken up this type of extra-curricular activity...we wait patiently...not really, but we try.

We have lunch around noon, then the kids play...ahem...I mean, make the biggest mess ever! The 5 year old loves to draw and count, so sometimes he writes down numbers and proceeds to ask me over and over and over (see where this is going) how much this and that number make when added...I hate math...but addition is ok I guess.

Dinner time is around 7pm and bedtime around 8pm. The boys put on their pjs and wash their teeth and off to bed they go. Goodnight kisses and hugs (about a million usually) are exchanged and the door is left a bit ajar, with the hallway light on.

So this is the 5 year old's typical day...except that everyday, in his typical day, his fingers are poked to see what his blood glucose level is... when he wakes up, when he eats, at home, at school, at the store, at parties, when he's sick, when he's acting out of character...a lot of times.

And he wears an insulin pump attached to him 24/7.

You see...this 5 year old has Type 1 Diabetes since the age of 2

but

above all

he is a kid and enjoys life.