My rainbow has flair.

He is my squishy.

He is everything a 7 year old should be. He is innocent, he is adorable, and he is funny.

He is my baby.

Everything he does brings a smile.

Looking at his big round sweet eyes makes everything better, always.

L is my rainbow.

Last summer he began feeling his lows and he hasn’t looked back since. He has always had such pride in feeling the lows, but nowadays it’s almost like he takes ownership of them. It makes him feel grown up to handle the lows on his own, so he handles them the only way he knows how…with flair.

He won’t tell me he feels low when we are home. He just goes and checks his sugar. Then, once his suspicions are confirmed, he’ll march past me at a good clip, maintaining intense, serious eye contact until he gets to the low cupboard. Once he is there he directs his attention to the choices inside.

If he grabs an apple juice, I know he is in the 50’s.

If he grabs a banana or a pudding, I know he is in the 60’s.

He’ll eat the treat in an important manner and then walk by me slowly, waiting for me to ask what his number was…and then he’ll nonchalantly say something like, “Oh! I was just 62.” Not missing a beat to his swagger, he’ll walk out of the room with his chin up.

Sometimes he’ll be low and I’ll be in the laundry room or something. He’ll come in and say, “By the way, I was 56.”

“You better eat something.”

And he’ll retort back in a shocked manner, “Well, of course I ALREADY ate something.” Kinda’ like he’s saying, “Duh mom! No brainer!”

He knows it is a very grown up thing to do. He is taking control of his diabetes in his own way, and that makes me burst with pride.

He’s so good at feeling his lows, he came to me yesterday…brows furrowed, needing some answers.

(Sitting on my lap,) “Mom, I felt low and I checked my sugar. But it said 111! So then I went and washed my hands really good and it said 112. I’m so confused! I’m always right!”

“We are having lunch in a few minutes; we’ll get you feeling better in no time!”

Wrong answer.

I should have said what I usually do, “The monitor can say what it wants, but you should always listen to what your body is telling you, go grab a snack.”

But I didn’t, and my husband walked through the door at that very minute, and within minutes he was on the phone with my sister in law, who instantly said she was coming to pick up the boys for lunch, (and a sleepover!) So we jumped up to pack up the stuff and they were out the door within 10 minutes.

As she drove away I yelled, “I have no idea what their sugars are! They need to test when they get to your place!” (They live just a few blocks away.)

Later I found out that L’s sugar was in the 60’s when they got to her house.

Never question a seven year olds sugar intuition.

On a side note: My boys went through phases where they would feel low and the meter would say otherwise. They would call me from school, upset…promising they felt low, but they would always be in the 100’s.

I don’t know if they were just dropping fast, or what…but I always had them eat a snack. (Even if it was just 3 small pretzels.) It made them feel better. They needed to know that I believed them. They needed to know that they always need to trust what they are feeling. Each boy went through the phantom low phase, and each only lasted a couple months. I wanted to throw this in because I know many others have had this problem in the past, and I wanted you to know it is pretty normal.

I don’t want the boys to ever doubt what they are feeling.

Feeling lows is a blessing, I know that.

And every time L walks by me with his important march and intense eye contact…I say a silent prayer of thanks…

Because my little boy feels his lows.

AND because my little boy is so freaking wonderfully squishy cute! (Seriously, can I freeze him in time or something? Can I can him and put him on a shelf?)