Outnumbered Two to One

Because I have four children, I am occasionally called upon by some of my first time mom friends for practical advice.

I try to be patient and offer a listening ear. Amidst four screaming children, however, it can be hard to form a coherent sentence, much less hand out sound parenting advice.

Questions like whether or not you can feed Pop Rocks to a one year old. Or whether or not a one year old would prefer scrambled eggs to hard boiled. Or whether or not said one year old would appreciate children’s programming. Or whether or not said child should have one nap or two. Or whether or not he’s teething because of his frequent tooth brushings. Or whether he’s allergic to peanuts even though his parents are not allergic to peanuts or any other food except for maybe his father who is allergic to shellfish but even then the allergy didn’t appear until after his twenties…

Okay, usually it’s the same friend, asking a myriad of inane questions whose answers one can mostly discover through a little experimentation and/or common sense. Most of the time I’ll offer some little tid bit, although many times I don’t really have any input because either I really don’t know, or I haven’t experienced it, or I don’t have time to debate the topic.

Today, this dear friend whom I’ve known since high school, called terrified because her baby was dozing off in his high chair. He’d developed a mild rash earlier in the day, possibly due to a nut allergy and she’d given him Benadryl at the pediatrician’s okay. She was really near hysterics when I picked up the phone. I asked her if she was able to rouse him, which she was when she’d changed his diaper. Then my husband, who of course was eaves dropping, asked a logical question. “What time does he go to bed usually?”

By our clock it was 8:45 PM.

Said one year old normally dozes off by 9.

Hmm.

Said one year old didn’t nap all day.

And he was medicated.

Yeah, I’d nod off in my puree too under those circumstances.

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