Shortish update

Not much is going on dog-wise. Molly's training is on hold, we're not sure if it's worth it due to her sensitivity. She can not concentrate on anything if she's scared or nervous. And she's a scaredy dog.
Take our new flat, for example. We moved from a semi-detached to a small block of flats and the noises that you get here are completely different. After six months, she's still nervous of people walking in the hallway, thinking they're all going to burst through our door. And the postman isn't helping, shoving things through the door on a daily basis. (In the old flat, we had a separate letterbox and she was blissfully unaware of it.) But in general, the effort just doesn't seem justified. I doubt we'd ever be able to completely trust her to notice night hypos or anything else. So she is "just" a pet at the moment. Which isn't that bad. We're intending to get a second dog at some point and maybe we'll ask for professional help when choosing the puppy. 

Eli is doing great, he can measure his own bg now and prep the insulin pen. Actual injecting isn't really an option for him, yet, as the only place with any fatty tissue is the buttocks. D, in his mind, is something mundane and not worth mentioning anymore, unless you have to explain it to stupid strangers who are puzzled by the needles and drops of blood. Other children are always curious for two minutes but then lose interest very quickly.

His levels are ok, I suppose, but the night readings are a bit of a pain. As he is on MDI and the amounts of insulin are relatively small, adjusting the pen units is proving to be tricky. Half a unit can make a world of difference. I also think the pen isn't very reliable when it comes to smaller amounts, meaning you can never be sure how much insulin you've given. It's the nightly nightmare: do you risk correcting a hypo at three in the morning or do you let it go high. There seems to be no middle ground. Correcting the night highs is scary as well, you never know what just a single unit can do by the morning.

I'm dreaming of a less intrusive pump. Eli tried a CGM a while ago and the sensor set his eczema off. The particular spot of skin on his lower back/upper buttock was infected for weeks. So I'm a bit wary about the pump, the cannula would be in all the time, meaning he would always have those infections.

I think what we could really use is some sort of respite. I've put an application in for a government-funded summer camp for families of diabetic children. They are really popular, childhood diabetes being ridiculously common in Finland. So I don't like our chances. It would be nice to speak to other parents and most importantly, it would be great for Eli to meet other diabetic children. His creche is so small he is the only d-child and that will probably be the case in the autumn, as well, when he starts preschool (in Finland, you start school at seven, preschool at six). Also, we could really use the holiday, being stuck at  home for the entire horrible winter. It's been one of those winters where I seriously kick myself for choosing to live in this godforsaken country. And still do. The clocks go forward this weekend and we get blizzards. Summer time my arse.

Not much else going on with us, apart from the new arrival in July. There will be five of us (or six, if you want to count Molly in, as Eli does) which means the summer will be an interesting one.