I remember when we were pregnant with Michael-- probably about 30 weeks along-- and Aaron says, "People say babies grow up so fast and that we should enjoy every second because it'll be gone soon. Now I'm sad." I smiled and looked at him and said "Michael isn't even born yet-- we have all of this time to enjoy."
Well, somewhere along the lines, someone flipped my calendar five years forward! And, sure enough, that time slipped away and here we are with a near five year old!
On April 19th I attended kindergarten registration! Eeks! This school had a few days parents could choose from in order to come fill out paperwork. This made sure that no one had to wait a very long time to complete the registration. No one was around when I filled out Michael's paperwork.
The registrar was very nice and sat me down at a table in the hallway of the school outside the front office. I filled out his paperwork, which basically said the same things and asked the same questions (what language do you speak at home, how well does your child get along with others, etc). When handing in my paperwork to the registrar, she discussed the Kindergarten Tour, which of course, takes place on the day we have to go to Michael's next endocrinology appointment. Since there are three time slots for the tour, I told the registrar that we'd most likely be able to attend the first tour so that we can leave straight from there and head to Michael's appointment-- at a hospital over an hour away. I asked if we could see the nurse's station during the tour and the registrar asked why. When I told her that Michael has Type One Diabetes (which is marked on his paperwork), she said "Oh, we need to take you there right now! They have to know he's coming." She was super nice and led me down the hallway to the nurse's office.
There are three nurses at this school, and all three of them had heard of me. One, I've spoken with on the phone. One heard that Michael was coming through the other two nurses. The final nurse-- the head nurse-- has spoken with my dad who is a bus driver for the school. I spent about 30 to 45 minutes in the nurse's office discussing Michael's care and what to expect at school. Each nurse was so super nice, and once the registrar found out that they already knew about me and Michael, she left me there in good hands. I sat down with one nurse and she made a list of what they'd provide for Michael (small refrigerator to store extra insulin, snack boxes for Michael for his classroom, PE, nurse's office, and bus) and what I'd provide for him (meter, meter supplies, pump supplies, low supplies, etc). We talked about how they'd handle lunchtime and snacktimes and even talked about how they'd assist us in picking Michael's teacher to make sure he got the best one who'd pay most attention to his symptoms. I left the nurse's office feeling SO GOOD about sending Michael to school!
After we go to the endocrinologist's office next week, I'll bring back the medical & legal paperwork Michael will need to attend school safely this fall-- it will include specific instances where Michael will be given help during the day.
At the beginning of August-- hello, huge pregnant belly!-- I will go to the school and help them learn how to use Michael's insulin pump. The two other type one students at the school currently are on Multiple Daily Injections (MDI), and the school had one student prior who was on a pump, but it was different from Michael's. They've never encountered anyone with Michael's specific pump, so I will train them in how to use it, and I think they'll like the convenience!
Aside from meeting with the nurses, and having my list of medical supplies to get for Michael to keep at school, we have an entire page of supplies to bring just for kindergarten alone! While we lived in Hawaii during my teen years, we learned that if you see something in the stores-- you buy it right then, or it might not be there when you go back. I apply this a lot to supply lists. I don't want to wait until July and August to buy all of his supplies because, holy checkbook! But I also don't want to be competing with everyone else in the surrounding three counties, plus our own, to be buying all of the boxes of crayons etc.
This list is extensive, so I'm taking it a bit at a time. I'm buying supplies as they go on sale (ie, 2 containers of Clorox wipes were on sale at Publix this week), and I'm adding in things we already had on hand (we buy our paper towels and Kleenex in bulk from Costco, so I was easily able to spare 4 paper towel rolls {yes, 4!!!} and 2 boxes of Kleenex from our stash). I'm applying the same plan for Michael's low supplies-- so I bought juice boxes (fast acting carb) when they were BOGO at Publix, and granola bars (slow acting carb) when they were on sale this past week). I plan to add in 2 things each week so I'm not overwhelmed in July and August. So far, it's working out pretty well.
Here's hoping the Kindergarten Tour goes well next week, and here's double hoping the endocrinologist's office is on top of it when it comes to the paperwork. Lots of changes are ahead, but one thing is for sure-- I'll certainly be taking my time to savor these last few months with Michael at home before he starts school.
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
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