Last night, as Wendy was in with her ballet class, I took Linc with me to the ladies' room. I noticed they keep a small, padded toilet-topper for potty-training kids. Yeah, the thought of it is kinda gross, but forget about that part for a moment, 'kay? I thought, "what the haystack," and I placed it on top. "Linc," I said as I looked down into his big blue eyes, "do you want to go tee-tee on the toilet?" "O-day" he said with a smirk. I then pulled down his lil' sweatpants, untaped his diaper, and plopped him up there. Wow, the boy smiled widely. I "adjusted" everything, and then stood in front of him and watched. His facial expression was one of concentration. Then! TINKLING INTO THE TOILET!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it! I wasn't even gonna START trying for a few more months. Last night, after eating dinner, before his bath, he DID IT AGAIN at home on Wendy's old Pooh Bear padded seat! WOWSERS! Haven't tried today yet. Don't want to hassle him too much.
AND! Wendy has a "sorta" loose tooth! She's VERY excited about it. It's on the bottom on her left side. It does move there in its little place, soooo. Now, Wendy knows the Tooth Fairy will be me. Long story. She has been told not to tell other kids though. (Basically, she nailed us by challenging the existence of God in light of "other characters in her head that just don't seem real, and what if we're having everyone else lie to her about God?" I hated to rob her of the Tooth Fairy before she's even lost her first tooth, but we don't want to mess with her mind, you know? So...James told her it's the parents, and then I chimed in with a sing-song voice, "And I have waited MY WHOLE LIFE to be a tooth fairy!!!" She hasn't asked about Santa yet. Funny side note--she DID tell one girl in her class, Kylynn, so I approached her mother to apologize, but Kylynn's family doesn't do all that fantasy stuff anyway in order to avoid God-confusion, so YAY!
Now, here is the latest re. Wendy's health. This is the copied e-mail I sent out, titled "Wendy's Diagnosis," which really is kind of a not-yet-diagnosis, sort of a pre-diagnosis still, as much as I hate the prolonged uncertainties...
They printed the report from Wendy's Ipro, and her reaction to glucose is not normal as her postprandial excursions jump too high, however, not (yet) to the point where she meets the criteria for Type 1 Diabetes. She is expected to meet the criteria for the diagnosis in one year's time. This is "early onset Type 1 Diabetes," and was caught unusually early. Most cases are dx'd when the child is already in ketoacidosis. We scheduled follow-up lab work to look for any other causes, another glucose test, another Ipro test (in a few months), and appointment with endo. Right now I am about to contact a diabetes research and trial organization. We will see if certain things like the injection of antigens or a vaccination called GAD65 can improve her future in some way. It cannot hurt her to try at this point since she pretty much is guaranteed to be insulin-dependent within months to a year. Also, I'm going to begin giving her Vitamin D and another supplement, to see if I can prolong this honeymoon period. ****Type 1 Diabetes is often mistaken for Type 2, but it is an entirely different disease. Type 1 is caused by genetics (in Wendy's case, most likely a new mutation) and an unknown environmental trigger, like a virus or toxin. Vaccines are not suspected ---with identical twins with the same DNA and same vaccine history, only one develops the disease, typically. Viruses of a common nature are more likely the insult--they are anywhere -- and trigger the unfortunate, but unavoidable, reaction in prone individuals. And there is some possibility having to do with cow's milk, but the connection is not clear or certain. (We've switched to alternative milk now.) Type 1 means the immune system destroys the beta cells of the pancreas. Type 2 is insulin-resistance due to medications, a sedentary lifestyle, and age and obesity play a role in some cases. Once Wendy is on her pump, she can eat normally (healthy diet with occasional party cake, or whatever, is fine) as long as we program her pump according to the carb-count. It can be well-managed, however, things like the impact from duration/intensity of her exercise, illness, stress, etc, will be impossible to match perfectly. The goal will be to keep her blood glucose as close to normal as possible, resulting in good A1C reports (measure overall blood glucose from past 3 months). We will test her blood sugar 3 days/week, 4 times each testing day, for now. Forgive me, everyone, if it takes me a while to fully believe and embrace this probability. It is so very rare! Type 1 makes up 5% of all diabetics, and children make up an even smaller percentage of that 5%, so I'm not likely to find another little girl with Type 1 to befriend my Wendy. And of course, I feel helpless to stop a process already underway, yet sooo early. I'm her mom and am naturally protective of my kids' health, so my knowledge of this, and impotence, is just torturous. That's my drive, but all I can do is wait for it to come. Ugh. Horrible. And the thing is, I still have a small sliver of hope because kids w/type 1 are rarely, if ever, identified prior to their qualification for the diagnosis. We were told we COULD begin low-dose insulin now, however, with her lows, I worry about the overload and its dangers, and the nurse agreed that it is better to wait as her spikes, and lows, right now, cannot cause harm. So, I guess we'll be getting her a James Avery bracelet that says "diabetic" this year sometime, and wow, life will be a challenge, but at least her life can be saved. In an earlier era, Wendy would definitely die. They told us how far treatment has come, and how one can live to be old, if they manage it well. Before the use of insulin, kids were put on a starvation diet, which prolonged their life MAYBE 5 years, but the children were so weak and miserable surviving on so little. With a pump, we can remove it for up to an hour for swimming. She'll wear it with her ballet leotard, though. I do worry about her social life, her future ability to get life insurance, for goodness' sake, etc, but no person is exempt from some sort of challenge in life, and I guess this is Wendy's--if not one of a few. I grieve the loss of the life I thought she'd have, from a health standpoint, the unburdened life, but I just have to get over it. I have to be strong and positive for everyone, Wendy most of all.
So, that's what I wrote, but since researching like a mad-woman, I've read various "normal" ranges, and I'm just not sure. I tend to think that as Wendy is intensely emotional, there could be some anomaly present in her that is a psychologically-driven change in her, physiologically. Why not? Eh? I see that obviously, there are red flags, but she's just not typical thus far, so there is room for hope.
We spent an evening at the lake last night. Wendy enjoyed playing the part of Alice on the outdoor stage. 
