You know you are the parent of a child with diabetes if:

• You grab the meter after cutting yourself, that big drop of blood is just to perfect to waste.



• You test your non-diabetic child whenever they begin drinking/peeing too much.



• Everyone in the family comes to you to test their kids "just to make sure."



• You can't let your kids take a nap in the middle of the day without first checking for a low.



• You don't care about the nutritional content of the food you're buying…just how many carbs per serving it has.



• When your child is cranky you ask "are you high" and you don't mean drugs.



• You're proud when your 3-year-old boy can "aim" to hit the ketone strip.



• Instead of whispering "sweet nothings" to each other in the middle of the night you and your spouse are talking about blood sugar numbers.



• "Let me shoot you up" has a whole new meaning for your teenager.



• You glance at the digital thermostat, which reads 68, and immediately run for glucose tabs.



• You clean the lint trap of your dryer (or car or anywhere else for that matter) and find a bunch of test strips.



• You are afraid to give them the freedom you gave your other kids because "something might happen".



• You look at other children's wrists to see if anyone else is wearing a medic alert bracelet and get excited when they are.



• When you and your spouse play "guess the carb count" and keep score.



• When you get suspicious looks from the cashier at the store when pointing out the "free" gum to your child.



• When you base your entire self worth on your childs last A1C.



• If you've ever accidentally used Cake Mate as lip-gloss (and it was green).



• When the family wagers on what the blood sugar check will reveal.



• When you look into your purse (now a backpack) and there are no longer brushes or makeup, it is more like a doctors little black bag.



• When you can't look at a plate of food without counting the number of carbs.



• You get up with the baby (non-diabetic) at 3 am and check her blood sugar before you give her a bottle.



• When you realize just how nuts you look when you dip the keto/glucose stik in a soda just to make sure that it is diet.



• When it takes 3 hours to go grocery shopping because you're checking every label for the carb count.



• When snacks are divided up into baggies with the carb count written on it in black magic marker.



• When your husband's beeper goes off and the first thing you check is the insulin pump.



• You are able to set up the meter and get the lancet into the device while half asleep and with only one eye open.



• You are able to check blood glucose and give a shot from the front seat to a child sitting/sleeping in the backseat while hubby is going 70 down the highway.



• Your child has gone away for camp and you start dreaming that you are the one that needs shots/checks.



• In a last ditch effort to get the carbs in you consider a cupcake to be a food group.



• When your child doesn't want to wake up early on a Saturday morning it sends you into a tailspin looking for the freaking meter. Previously you would have taken this time to enjoy a few cups of coffee and the peace and quiet.



• Your child falls asleep on a road trip and you wonder whether he is low or just tired.



• Your non-diabetic toddler comes and tells you her pump has come unclipped just to get attention.



• You're on a first name basis with the school nurse.



• Your son's report card from school says that he has learned to manage his diabetes well during the second semester.



• You can't find a measuring cup.



• Your child with diabetes eats more candy than the rest of your kids do, and it is for his own health.



• Your back hurts from your purse being so heavily loaded with carbs and diabetic supplies.



• You get at least one good nights sleep a month because you forgot to set the alarm for 2 am.



• You hand out glucose tabs to the neighbor kids, instead of candy treats.



• You supply the neighborhood with sugar free popsicles.



• You encourage your child to eat candy to bring them out of a low and then say "You want a sandwich?"



• You have syringes in your purse that fall out when you pull your wallet out and get VERY funny looks. (REALLY a riot when you are showing ID to an officer!)



• Your child asks if breast milk is sugar free for the baby.



• People think your child gets bit by mosquitoes a lot on their arms from testing bg's.



• You tell your child to "check their sugar" and the kid next to them starts pulling candy out of their pockets to show how much they have.



• The latest styles and designs in kit bags are more exciting than purses.



• You tell someone your child's bg's #'s and say they were high or low and they give you a look like "Oh yeah..." and then you realize you have to explain what the norms are.



• People don't understand when you get excited about a new diabetic product (glucowatch, etc) and can't wait for it to come in more than a new house, car, etc.



• Halloween consists of weighing the bag of candy to get an estimate of dollar worth in exchange for the treats.



• Holidays consist of getting candy that will keep to treat lows.



• Your non-diabetic child says they are low to get candy too.



• Your non-diabetic child says they are low to get out of doing something physical (cleaning a room, etc).



• Your child asks, "When am I not going to have diabetes anymore?"



• The top shelf in the refrigerator door is reserved for bottles of insulin.... instead of eggs.



• You have a list posted on your fridge with 20 different phone #'s to call "In Case Of An Emergency"



• You have the symptoms of hypo and hyperglycemia posted prominently everywhere in your home.



• You know what glucagon is and what it does.



• You refill prescriptions for strips and insulin just as soon as your insurance will let you...just in case!



• You are always handing 1-oz snacks out to your childs friends.



• When your teenager says "I've been really high today" and she means blood sugar.



• When I'm out with the boy I wear a "fishing" vest. Lots of pockets loaded down with test-kit, glucose, glucagon, and snacks.



• Your car is full of food and juiceboxes.....and your pocketbook too!



• You know more doctor's than your grandmother.



• People ask your advice on the best pharmacy in town.



• You lay awake at night wondering if those three glucose tabs you just gave him are going to rot his teeth.



• Your year is broken up into endo visits every quarter.



• You know which tech at the clinic can draw blood for an A1C with very little pain.



• You use EMLA on your eyebrows before you tweeze them.



• You start spitting out carb counts to adults as soon as they start talking about food.



• You evaluate measuring cups by how well they will work as serving spoons.



• You can't remember your child's grades, but can recite the A1c and last three Bg's any time.



• You automatically wake up at 2:00 a.m.



• When yours kids say "mom I have to pee should I do it in a cup.



• You know how many carbs YOU just ate after a meal!



• When your purse weighs as much as a suitcase!



• When a family of four could live for a week off of the "extras" you "happen" to have on you!



• When your dog gets excited when he sees you get the insulin shot ready because he knows that it will soon be time for his evening walk!



• When every coat/jacket pocket has a roll of smarties.



• When you give your non-diabetic child a packet of fruit snacks in their lunch box...just in case!



• When even your child's friends know that it is snack time!



• When you beam at your 4 year old's drawing of a robot because she had enough insight to place food stickers in the robot's tummy "for energee"!



• When you subscribe to a cwd listserve because you would rather learn how other parents are coping with diabetes than going into the next room and folding a pile of laundry!



• You let your daughter get her ears pierced (1.5 years before the promised age) because she did her own injection... and the ear piercing is no big deal because of all the pokes endured already.



• The question friends and family ask after asking, "how's your child" is "and how are YOU?"



• Your friends and co-workers ask about your child's blood sugar levels and are beginning to understand.



• Your child carries a steno notebook from home to sitter to school and it is not the naughty behavior book.



• When you send all your children to school for the first day and everyone but one leaves with empty backpacks...the last one is filled with juice boxes, candy, crackers, glucagon, syringes, insulin, meter, and test strips.



• When your child is the only one in school with a note of carb counts taped to their lunch box.



• When your child goes trick or treating you separate the candy into three piles..."go ahead and eat now"(which is the smallest), "sometime later", and "fast acting glucose" pile for emergencies...



• Your non-diabetic child tells you they are low to get attention, get candy, or to explain misbehaving.



• You don't even have to tell the pharmacist what you're there for, she knows as soon as you enter the store to look up on the computer what you're there for that time of month and has it ready before you even hit the counter.



• Your child doesn't even bother to pour her cereal into a bowl...she just eats from the measuring cup...



• The past year's science projects were "Evaluation of the Glucowatch Biographer", "The effect of exercise on ketones and blood glucose levels" and "How much glucose is in "diet" drinks obtained from fast food drive through restaurants".



• You don't go anywhere without the cordless phone or the cell phone, cause just as soon as you step out the door or into the shower the school nurse is going to call!



• When the school's phone # shows up on caller ID you hope it is the principal and not the school nurse!



• It doesn't really matter if you forget your purse, as long as you have "the bag" with all the D supplies.



• When you're up at 2:00 a.m. trying to coax your child to drink some chocolate milk to treat a low you immediately wonder how many other CWD parents are up doing the same thing.



• After you have succeeded in getting her to drink the chocolate milk and she is again sleeping soundly you briefly consider powering up the computer to check your email.



• You know your kid must be one of the bravest kids in the world!



• When you reach for measuring cups as serving spoons - even when the child with diabetes isn't home.



• You open the washing machine and it is full of white fluff!! (cotton balls!)



• When in spite of all the blood tests, injections, hypos, high blood sugars, doctors visits, tears, pharmacy visits, ER visits, measuring food, staring people, carb counting, sleepless nights, ketone tests, explaining to people, 504 plans, you would not trade your life with this child for nothing in the world.



• You will never ever forget that fateful day of diagnosis your life has forever changed and after you finally pick yourself up you realize that life is so precious.......material things and money will forever be second to health and happiness. Each day is a gift to be treasured. You truly learn the meaning of love on a deeper level than ever before.



• 'Give me the finger (or toe)' has a whole new meaning.



• Your car has too many used needles lying about.



• You keep tripping on those little caps that come on the needles. You have to crawl under the dining room table to collect them.



• You realize one morning, as your DH is driving off to deliver your child to school, that he IS going to forget to give her NPH. You frantically make phone calls to get the message to him and that day, you decide it's time for EVERYONE in the family to have a cell phone. . . so you go and buy THREE.



• You cringe every time your child gets a birthday invitation. . . how in the heck are you going to figure out the carb content of the sweets served?



• If your child was dx'd before age 2, some of their first words are: carb, insulin, meter, gugose (glucose) tabs, etc



• When others can see the Sunrise and Sunset while I am busy with the syringes.



• When others go to parties (of all sorts) and I try to avoid.



• When even doctors in India ask me "do children also have diabetes?"



• When the school principal says that she is doing a favor to me by allowing my daughter to study in her school as she is an extra burden, which no school around would like to have.



• When somebody asks me "Why your daughter is cycling at 10PM in the night on the road?"



• When my Office colleagues ask me "Why you don't have sweets, these are really tasty"



• When I have to do a mad search for simple things like DIET PEPSI.



• When I receive an urgent call from my wife regarding our daughter.



• When I am asked why I am late to the office everyday.



• When somebody comments "you are very unsocial"



• When my relatives ask me "why is your wife loosing her health and is so tense 24 hours a day"



• When people advise me "Don't worry, Diabetes is nothing, just avoid sugar".



• When people tell me" You know she will be OK when she grows up"
• When you think of testing your child when you see red lipstick.



• When you have "dead" snacks in many different purses.



• When you're teaching your 7 year old kid high school math ....counting those carbs baby.



• When you have a hard time holding your laughter when someone orders sticks for potatoes.



• When your magazine subscriptions consist of "Diabetes Interview" and "Diabetes Care".



• When your child learns to count down with the meter before learning to count forwards.



• When your child begins to miss thier school nurse over spring vacation.



• When you know when Scool Nurse's Day is and you observe it.



• When Sunday night is the designated night to figure the carb count for the next weeks school lunch menu.



• When the only thing worse than a substitute teacher is a substitute school nurse.



• When your kid has one extra dance recital ticket and of all people in the world to invite, she invites the school nurse.