"Break! Break!" Charlie screams, a blue vein bulging from his neck. Susanne has Charlie over her lap and has barely begun pulling the edge of the tape when Charlie begs for a break, warm tears filling his eyes.

So much of Charlie's routine has gotten easier over time. Shots were very difficult in the beginning. He hated it. But eventually, it got better - his squirminess lessened. He'd just lean over, grit his teeth and exhale when it was over.

Site changes, on the other hand, have only gotten worse with time. Charlie's latest site change was awful. Seems like the bigger he gets, the bigger his resistance to it is.

We try to distract him by putting on the TV show of his choice, but not even The Power Rangers can keep him still. We try to reason with him and beg him to stay still, but it always ends with a 15 minute lesson in crocodile wrestling. A handy skill to learn, yes, but not practical for the Philadelphia suburbs. He thrashes around so violently that it is nearly impossible to change the site without a bloody mess. A stressful situation just gets uglier when we're driven to threats.

"Charlie! Please! Do you want us to do this or do we need to go to the hospital?"

"Charlie! Stop moving! It may be August, but Santa's watching!"

"Charlie! OK! For every time you squirm, I will take one of your Star Wars figures away from you and give them another little boy with diabetes who doesn't squirm when his parents change his site."

When threats don't work, we speak in the only language Charlie understands. That is, other than *Parseltongue.

Cash.

Charlie must have at least $38,000 in a Swiss bank account from his site change winnings.

In the middle of yet another horrible site change, I find myself unintentionally quoting Tom Cruise in the movie Jerry Maguire.

Exasperated, I lower my voice and calmly ask Charlie, "What can I do for you? What can we do to keep you from moving so much? Help me help you. Help me help you."

Charlie pauses, but not for long.

His cries and unintelligible whimpers come to a sudden stop.

As firm as a drug lord and as steely eyed as a crocodile, Charlie makes his demands.

"10 dollars!"



*Parseltongue: Snake language (Harry Potter)