Why animals eat their young

As my children age, more and more I understand why animals eat their young. It saves you a lot of grief later on in life.  Sure they are cute and they come up with some sweet things when they are young but then they become teens.  The animal kingdom realizes this and some of them are smart enough to end their misery before it starts.

Yes, I am just kidding...most of the time. I love my kids more than anything. They have been my life for the past 16+ years and there are very few of those years that I would trade for anything. We have made some amazing memories but still there are times when we are going through these teen years that I really have to work hard to focus on the good stuff and not the creature in front of me.

What tests me the most? Well a lot of things but as my youngest enters the new realm of teenage hood and diabetes becomes a bigger beast than ever, the Swiss cheese brain of a teen can really push my buttons.

He is off with his father again for two weeks. Before he left he began to do lovely things like forget to bolus.  Next it was forget to test.  Logging was happening because Mom was doing it herself but she made him stand right beside her until everything was noted and answer all of her questions.  I did my very best to breathe with each..."Oh yeah.  I forgot to test then."  and "Oh yeah, I guess I didn't bolus that piece of ice cream cake after all."

As we waited for his plane to board we went over those last minute rules.

"You will bolus."
"You will test."
"You will log."
"When you come home, we are leaving right away so make sure everything is updated.  We have to see the new D team when we get back."
"Don't forget your site changes. You know I will be calling to make sure you have enough insulin."

And yes, his response was to glaze over after telling me that of course he would remember! I needed to remember who I was talking to.  That was the problem, I remembered that the child I was talking to was the same one who had just forgot to bolus ice cream cake the night before. Oh my!