Happy Halloween!

Cooper was diagnosed at the end of January, and on my first post-diagnosis outing I was walking down Queen Anne Avenue, our local business district, completely overwhelmed and emotional.  Valentine’s Day candy and treats were everywhere in the stores, and every store I passed seemed to be taunting me with sugar and carb overdoses of every variety:  cupcakes, ice cream, doughnuts, pastries, smoothies, etc, etc.  I was seriously distraught, and didn’t know how we would be able to ever leave the house again.  I felt terrible that my little boy was being robbed of all the sweet pleasures of childhood.

Fast forward a few months, and today we breezed through Halloween, the junkiest sugar fest of them all!

My attitude has changed and I no longer feel like there is anything to miss out on by cutting down on empty calories. We were always pretty healthy eaters, but I’ve become so much more aware of what we eat.  I have no problem saying no, or saving a treat for a more appropriate time.  At the same time, on special occasions I make exceptions so a kid can be a kid.  Cooper had his classroom party this afternoon and Wayne was there, ready to count and bolus for whatever the spread may be.  He watched in awe as Cooper went up to the snack table and helped himself to a plate of veggies because he knew they were healthy and low carb.  Amazing!  Huge props to the teacher for having a party with only one mini cupcake treat and the rest normal healthy snacks – I have been in class parties that were out of control sugar-wise, and this was such a nice change.  And even though Wayne was available to give him a shot, Cooper ended up having a sugar free jello and packing his cupcake to go, which is what he usually does with class parties and birthdays.

For the rest of Halloween?  He for sure had more treats than usual, but it was still relatively tame.  After school snack was the cupcake with a few candy corn, along with pear and cheese.  We stayed away from pizza, which is our usual halloween night dinner, and had brown rice and chicken instead.  I allowed for an extra 15 carbs with his dinner shot, knowing that he would want to eat some candy right away, so he munched on a pack of skittles while we trick-or-treated.  Then the focus was on having fun and there was no more candy grazing until we got home.  Had some junior mints and animal crackers before bed with an extra shot.

I don’t know what I would have done differently without diabetes… probably there would have been more candy grazing, but pretty much things haven’t changed too much.  We will have a piece with meals for awhile, and stash away some of the sugary stuff for lows.  Trade a bunch to the “switch witch” for a small toy.  We just enjoyed the day – candy and all – and it felt great not to have it be a big deal or cause for panic.  Diabetes is taking more of a back seat in our lives – it’s always along for the ride of course, but I’m hoping it stays back there and keeps quiet.  Maybe I can buy it an ipod and some headphones to stay busy… meanwhile we keep trying to enjoy everything else going on around here!