Two instances over Christmas spent with family has made me realize something: Grandma’s know stuff. They know useful stuff and they know it better than Mom & Dad do. Sure, we spend all day with the baby and do all of the important stuff, but Grandmother’s know something extra. Grandmother’s have seen the whole picture. They can separate the piece from the puzzle and know a number of tricks to make certain things go much more smoothly.
This all started when my Mother-in-law did something so simple with my son that caused him to laugh uncontrollably almost instantaneously. Remember way back, in earlier posts, when I was marveling at the rarity of my son’s laughter. Oh, yes, it was a rare thing. A rare thing until he got into the arms of his Grandmother who knew all of the tricks of the trade and brought him to laughter in a few brief moments. She raised him over her head on Christmas morning, placing his belly on her head, and she simply rotated her head back and forth in a ‘no’ motion that tickled his belly and caused him to laugh and smile. I felt kind of stupid. How had I not figured this out yet?
The second instance was with my own mother (also able to make him laugh) who noticed my son crying and having trouble getting to sleep. She suggested, having extensive knowledge of my father and her son (me) that we simply take his feet out of his footsies. Apparently my father and I (and relatives further down towards the roots) don’t like our feet feeling trapped by anything. Can you guess what happened? I freed my son’s feet and he instantly fell asleep on my lap. Unbelievable! Unreal! The advice is clear: Grandmother’s know something about babies. It is to your detriment if you don’t heed their words of wisdom.