Sometimes I lose sight of Charlie, the 5-year-old. I see Sir Charles the Brave, a courageous warrior whose calloused fingers have shed blood across many a battlefield. The boy who fears nothing.

Like many of our young children with diabetes, checking blood sugars is just a brief pit stop. It's no big deal. Nary a wince or a whine.

In the few times I've checked my own blood sugar, I didn't show nearly the same nonchalance as Charlie does. I jerk my finger back after the pop of the pricker like I'm pulling it from a fire. I contortion my hand oddly like I'm practicing to throw a knuckle ball. Neighboring fingers spread away from the bloody one like it's contagious. Then I nurse my finger. A couple tender kisses, a tightly compressed tissue and close inspection of the prick mark several minutes later. I'm a grown man. How is it possible that my 5-year-old handles it better than me? (READ MORE)

Yesterday I received a package from Medtronic Minimed who is the manufacturer of my insulin pump. Minimed offers these sweet Pump Skins that are basically stickers that fit around your pump to give it some "style" and "personalization." (READ MORE)

I was talking recently with a friend of ours whose twelve year old daughter was just diagnosed with type 1. As much as I love my friend, her attitude toward her daughter and her daughter's diabetes scared me a little. She uses the phrase "It's that simple," quite a bit. For example, she recently informed me that she told her daughter 'Sit your butt in the chair and test your bloodsugar. You have to do it - it's that simple.' She continued by telling me that crying about diabetes is not tolerated in her house. (READ MORE)

In honor of National Diabetes Month, Abbott Diabetes Care is running a special series of web-based chat sessions with parents of kids with diabetes in mind. Children With Diabetes founder Jeff Hitchcock and Caring for a Child with Diabetes author Brenda Novak are featured guests You can pre-register for these November events over at the Abbott website. (READ MORE)

We're constantly weighing things. Weighing grams. Weighing negatives. Weighing the lesser of two evils.

On the soccer field at halftime I weigh the effect grapes will have on Charlie when his blood sugar is 260. I weigh this against the sadness he'll have if he's the only kid unable to enjoy a halftime snack. This one's easy though. I'll never ever subject him to exclusion.

But, how many grapes? I don't like that he's 260, but he's running around like a wildebeest for two hours. He should come down. Right? Well, maybe. He may also go up higher with all that adrenaline pumping. He may just stay the same somehow and then plummet later. I can't bolus him and risk a low.

But there's that difficult decision again. The rest of his teammates are reclining on soccer ball pillows and popping grapes like Julius Caesar and I've allotted Charlie a measly three. (READ MORE)

Because I was diagnosed at age 14, I can only speak about not having diabetes from the perspective of a child. I lived 14 years free of diabetes. As a young kid, I did experience a few random episodes of hypoglycemia, but never did I imagine myself becoming a person with diabetes. I didn't even know what the word was. I remember one distinct conversation that I had with a friend's mom. She was talking to me about a guy that we both knew named Curtis. Curtis was a soccer referee and before I knew about my diagnosis, I remember her telling me that he was, "a diabetic and that he had to take shots everyday". Looking back I can remember my exact feelings and reaction to this. (READ MORE)