A little tip.

I carry my itty-bitty camera in my purse. Everywhere. It fell out of my purse. On the street. In the middle of nowhere. And I didn't know I'd lost it. I arrived at home. There was a message saying someone had found my camera.

Yes. I labelled my camera with our home phone number (inc. area code ... imagine losing your camera on vacation). I've also labelled my keys with Todd's office number.

Thank you to the Good Samaritan, Denise, who found my camera. She said that if she had not seen a phone number she may have posted signs on her street saying that she found a camera but since I didn't know I had lost it - it could've been anywhere and I might never have traced my way back to her street.

That's my helpful hint for the day.

What not to say

Scene: It's 1 minute until skating lessons start and I due to @#!@# construction*&^ still have 3 skates to tie plus 2 helmets to find and attach to my 2 children's heads. I'm frantic. I can see the instructors heading onto the ice. EGADS. I can see the other kids and their parents walking towards the ice. shit. I can't tie skates any faster. Phew. Done. Now just for the helmets and we're only 1 minute late.....

Tomas: "Mom, I feel low".
Mom: "Tomas, that's unlikely. You're usually a little high at this time because the insulin has worn off and I haven't given you the next dose plus I gave you an extra snack because of skating. However, thanks for letting me know and I'll test you just in case".

Meanwhile.... I'm telling Toria that she needs to get onto the ice but she won't go until I go with her.

Mom: (reading the glucometer): "3.2 (around 60). Oh Shoot. Your right Tomas, you're really low. Here - eat these glucose tablets." I shovel the glucose tabs into him before ensuring he's OK so I can dash across the lobby to the ice with Toria.

As I run past the entrance where Tomas' coach (and a number of other parents) are standing the coach asks "Is Tomas coming?". As I'm running past and dragging Toria along (I'm completely frazzled at this point) I quickly respond "Yes, but I won't let him come skating until he has more sugar."..... and then I'm gone....

Hmm. As I drop Toria off and begin the dash back across the lobby to Tomas it occurs to me that that probably didn't sound good.

I go back to the coach (& eavesdropping parents) and explain that Tomas has Type 1 diabetes and he's having a low blood sugar episode and he needs to increase his sugar levels back into the normal range before he can come onto the ice.

The coach is an older gentleman and someone you would NEVER think would be teaching kids to skate so when he says "Thank you for explaining that to me - I am a judge and was wondering about your parenting abilities. (uh-oh) However, now that you've explained it to me - I am a Type 2 and I understand about highs and lows. Tell Tomas that we'll be waiting for him when he's ready."

Phew.

Fortunately when I tested Tomas he was up to 6.0 (108) and he went out for the last 15 minutes of skating lessons.