Wednesday, August 20, 2008

A few things I've learned this week

1.Okay, peanut butter doesn't always cure hiccups.
Cee had a good case of them last night. I gave her PB twice, but she likes to hoard food in her mouth, so the effort was completely wasted. I sang to her as we rocked to sleep and that knocked her (and her hiccups) out.
2. Younger brothers can make really good relationship decisions.
We met my brother's fiancee's family this weekend. Cee and I had gone down to see the folks for a few days. It was my little sister's 3rd birthday too. My brother is 21 and getting married to a girl who's a few years older next August. The LT and I, and maybe Cee, are all in this ginormous wedding. It's going to be a hoot. Especially if my married sister and I are pregnant or have newborns at the time. Anyway I got to see my brother and his fiancee together and they are really great. It's kind of weird seeing a girl look at your brother with total love and devotion, especially since I changed his diapers and gave him baths and bottles, but it was really great too.
3. I can't remember what else I've learned, but there's probably a ton. Mothering a toddler is good for learning, even if you can't always remember what you've learned.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down

And a spoonful of peanut butter makes the hiccups go away. I have no idea how.
Cee isn't really bothered when she gets the hiccups, but she gets them a lot at bedtime, where they understandably interfere with falling asleep. A couple of months ago, we were rocking for almost half an hour with hiccups when I remembered the peanut butter cure. Sure enough, a toddler-size spoonful of PB and Cee was asleep within minutes. I've used it several more times, including today right before naptime.
Wikihow.com has many methods of curing hiccups and puts the peanut butter cure at #44. The instructions are simple and has appropriate warnings included so people who have peanut allergies and those who aren't used to swallowing peanut butter without choking are forewarned about the risks inherent in this cure.
And speaking about being forewarned, evidently 16 adults need to be told that riding motorcycles in driving rain, cloud-to-ground lightning, and gale-force winds is a stupid idea. But we did it anyway and miraculously survived, although many brain cells were killed in the partying that ensued once we reached the hotel later that afternoon.