I think he's growing up

This morning I watched my son head off to school.  Gone were the days of baggy tshirts and the orphan look.  He is now a young man with his hair just so and tshirts showing off his new developing body.  I know that puberty has arrived because of the nightmare roller coaster of blood glucose levels we are riding on.  I know he is growing because I now look him in the eyes where he once looked up to me.

He is my youngest.  I have always looked at him as my little boy. Diabetes meant that Mom hung around more places with him.  He didn't venture off as much by himself.  He was always more of a homebody.  He was happy to spend time by himself and could easily amuse himself.

My how times have changed!  He now has his XBox headset on at all times and is steadily chatting with a variety of friends.  He is asking to go over to this classmatess house and to the movies with a group of friends.  He is beginning to take better care of his diabetes which allows me to let him spread his wings with greater confidence. 

He was low over the weekend.  I caught one low at 2am and another after 8.  Of course, he was asleep for both of them.  At the supper table, he mentioned that he must have been low a lot the previous night.  He felt he was low at least four or five times.  I said I had dealt with three lows.  The 2am too a bit of treating.  My fiance suggested that he needs to learn to wake up and deal with his own lows at night. My heart broke at him taking on so much responsibility but I knew that this was true. One day he would need to be able to look after everything himself.  I plan on him having a CGM by the time he leaves home but he still needs to learn to actually wake up if it alarms.  My son however was not worried about any of this. He quickly replied that he planned to live with us until he was at least 30 and thus the problem was solved!

He is taking on other problems however.  Sunday night his low insulin alarm went off.  He told me he was going to fill the cartridge before bed.  I know this is not the ideal time to do anything with your pump and I have had that discussion with him before.  Since I test and check things throughout the night, I will keep harping and hope he will fix this habit in the next few years.

But back on track, I went to bed and my son headed to bed soon after.  I forgot about the cartridge and so did he!  At 2:30, I woke up and tested him.  All was fine but his pump was alarming.  My son actually sat up in his bed. I asked why his pump was beeping.  He said "I

forgot to fill the cartridge!"
"How many units do you have left?"
"Three"
"I guess you are getting up to fill it huh?" I asked as he headed off to the fridge to get insulin.

I was proud to see him taking charge and dealing with his oversight. I didn't have to deal with anything. I just had to go back to bed.  His 2:30am cartridge change may not have been his finest hour of diabetes care because he was in the 20s (360+) when he got up at 7 but it was a start. 

So when he was up and heading for school this morning, I sat amazed at how much my son is growing up.  He is more outgoing. He is getting taller and more physically mature.  And the one thing I feared would never happen--my son is getting more responsible.  Wonders never cease! I hope it lasts!