Our Adoption Journey: What a Week!

We’ve had a busy week around here! Last Sunday, Rabbit headed off to camp. We are very fortunate to have a camp for kids with Type 1 diabetes fairly close to our home, and this was Rabbit’s third year to attend. I am so grateful for this camp. Because of Rabbit’s diabetes and need for a gluten-free diet, it would not be safe for her to attend just any summer camp, so we are so glad she has the opportunity for this specialized camp. The camp is phenomenal. There are at least two counselors for every cabin of eight kids, and many of the counselors have diabetes themselves. There are medical staff available 24/7. All meals are planned in advance, down to every detail, and each camper receives a booklet which contains a list of everything they will be offered to eat during the week, and the number of carbs in each food. The camper job marks the foods they will eat, and then a nurse checks in with them before every meal to see what their blood sugar is and help them determine the correct insulin dosage. In addition, there are staff members who go from cabin to cabin TWICE during every night to check each camper’s blood sugar and hand out juice and snacks to those who have low blood sugar (very common at camp because of the high activity level during the day). There are systems in place for keeping track of each camper’s medication, blood glucose meter, and insulin pump. The kids do lots of regular fun camp stuff - and they also work on gaining new skills to help them manage their diabetes more independently. Every year, I am blown away by what they manage to accomplish!

Monday marked the start of cross-country practice, so Daddy (head coach this year!) has been busy each morning this week for several hours.

On Wednesday, Pooh and Kellin went to daycare as they have done most Wednesdays this summer (Pooh because he enjoys seeing his friends and Kellin because it helps keep him in the routine for when he goes back full-time in another week). So Wednesday morning, it was just Tigger and I around here. One-on-one time with each child is pretty rare, so I decided to make this a special time for Tigger. I asked him what he wanted to do - and he said he wanted to watch the first Harry Potter movie (he’s been obsessed with those books lately!) and he wanted grape-flavored water and orange slices (candy) to eat during the movie. So that’s what we did! It was fun to be able to spend time just with Tigger. He’s such a happy-go-lucky, energetic, FUN kid!

On Thursday, I picked up Rabbit from camp just as a thunderstorm headed our way, so the end-of-camp program was cancelled in order to get everyone home, or out of the immediate area, as quickly as possible. Rabbit came home sunburned and exhausted but had a great time as usual!

On Friday, Rabbit and Tigger headed to Nana and Papa’s house to spend a couple days, so I took advantage of that to have a “Mommy and Pooh” sleepover night on Friday. I asked Pooh what he wanted to do, and he said he wanted baked beans and ramen noodles for supper, and he wanted to watch Sesame Street and eat M&M’s. Oh, this kid! We had a blast!

Today Rabbit started band lessons. She has chosen to play the trombone, and the school district offers a week of introductory lessons this week before school actually starts in September. So excited for her to have this experience!

We are coming up on our final week of summer vacation. Beginning the following week, Daddy and I are back to work full-time, and the kids all go back to daycare/school. This is a big transition for us every fall, but before long, we will be back into our schedule and things will go smoothly. I hope that Kellin has an easier transition this year than last. Last fall marked his first time of starting daycare and then preschool, and I think it took about two months before he seemed to settle in. Hopefully this year will be better, since it is more familiar.

It’s been a good summer for Kellin. He’s gained quite a few skills, especially in communication and eating (our two biggest areas of concern). He is making sounds regularly to try and communicate and has (kind of) a few words. He seems to say “mama” and “more” and “on” but to be fair, he uses those sounds to mean about a zillion other things too. I really think he thinks he is talking and doesn’t have a clue why we don’t understand, and he can get very frustrated with us.

In terms of his eating, we are still seeing some mixed results with the new approach. He has tried quite a few foods - creamed corn, muffins, cheese, raisins, pretzels - but the number of foods he is choosing to really eat is pretty narrow, mostly cereal (dry), bite-size crackers, veggie straws, Cheetos, yogurt, applesauce, and juice. Sometimes he will sit for an hour and eat Fruit Loops slowly one at a time, sometimes he eats practically nothing but drinks several cups of juice, sometimes he happily eats yogurt and muffin bites. I estimate that he is eating maybe 100-200 calories per meal. I can only hope that is enough to keep him growing. It is incredibly difficult for me to watch him eat so little, and I worry so much about the effect it may have on his health. But I also remind myself that all the vomiting probably had a negative impact on his health too, and that has completely stopped. I am anxious to see how this all works out in the long term.

A few fun pictures: