There are so many questions new mothers have. You want to provide the best for your little one, but you don’t always know how. You get conflicting messages from friends, family and even strangers. Well, my Grandma always seemed to know what to do. I often turn to my memories of how Grandma handled situations to help my little guy when he gets hurt, sick, or opinionated (read temper tantrum).
I remember when I had chicken pox. I was 14 years old and my Grandma often mentioned that it was the worst case that she had ever seen. She stayed by my side day and night. She would spend hours gently rubbing my back until I finally slept. She rubbed Caladryl lotion all over me, several times a day to help stop the itch. But I mostly remember her drawing an “oatmeal bath” for me at 3am several nights in a row to relieve the itchiness. Grandma always made me feel better, even if there wasn’t much she could do. She stayed by my side and tried everything she knew how. Some things worked, and some things didn’t. But the love always came through in everything she did.
So, when my little guy had a really bad case of diaper rash, I turned to my memories of Grandma’s remedies to help him out. We had a diaper rash ointment at home, but it wasn’t working. I asked my husband to get the brand that my Grandma always used on us grandkids on his way home from work. But in the mean time, my baby was miserable and he cried to Mommy to help. I remembered the oatmeal baths my Grandma used to give me and how much relief they provided. So I immediately started getting the bath ready.
My little guy sat in the tub with the water filling around him as I dumped in the oatmeal. Well, apparently the oatmeal bath that Grandma gave me was not the Quaker brand. I poured an entire canister of Quaker oats into the tub, surrounding our baby with cholesterol fighting goodness. The water turned muddy and paste like, and the oats sank to the bottom. It wasn’t until then that I realized something wasn’t right. How would I drain the tub? It took about 30 minutes, but I finally got the oats out of the tub using a colander. I just knew my Grandma was watching me from heaven and laughing harder than she had before.
We always had a way of making each other laugh and I guess I’m still doing my part. I guess I should have paid closer attention to her old home remedies. I got it eventually, but I could have saved so much time if I had paid closer attention. At least I picked up the most important lesson on how to make people feel better. The love comes through in every thing I do, even the blunders.
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