"Do you still have that on?" No. 2 asked this morning as I was working on the laundry.

"Yep," I said, cheerfully.

I introduced the kids yesterday to my new medical accessory. I explained it the best way they would understand: Mommy doesn't have to take shots anymore because my medicine is in this.

"How long do you have to wear it?" she wanted to know.

"All the time."

My official pump training is Monday at 1 p.m. But I still strapped the pump on nearly as soon as I got it on Friday. I figured why not go ahead and get used to wearing it all the time.

I wore it around Friday without an infusion set, just hanging out in my pocket or on the outside of my pocket, dodging door frames and brushing the inside of my arm when I walked.

I imagined how I would maneuver with the pump during certain normal activities, such as going potty, changing clothes and sitting at my desk. I tried to rearrange the pump accordingly based on how far I thought the tubing would go.

Toohey (like pancreas two, like Audrey two from Little Shop of Horrors) sat nicely on my nightstand all night on Friday, and went straight to my hip when I woke up Saturday morning. By Saturday afternoon I had made my way through the users manual, "delivered" a number of boluses, set and reset basal rates, suspended and resumed, and locked and unlocked the keyboard; I felt confident I could work the pump. So confident that I put in an infusion set (minus the medicine) and have been wearing it ever since. We even went bowling Saturday afternoon, and I tried on clothes today. How's that for trial by fire? The pump rested under my pillow last night and will do the same tonight.

There have been times this weekend when I've thought, you know, I should really take the pump off for XYZ reason, or I think I'll just put this away in the box until Monday's training. And then I realize that that's really no way to learn to live with this. That I need to get used to having this on me all the time and knowing how I'll feel and where I'll want to put it in certain situations. That right now is the best time to figure things out...when there's not that much on the line.

So far, I'm really enjoying myself and can't wait until the real thing.