Mom Genius @ Work

My daughter and I were having a good giggle together the other day. She had the hiccups and every time she tried to say something she would hiccup. I love when kids hiccup. Their entire body hiccups with them. Shaking, convulsing, and seizing suddenly, usually at the most inopportune moment.

The sentimentalist that I am relished the opportunity to recreate moments I shared with my father when I was young and had the hiccups. 

I told her an obviously bold-faced lie that every time she hiccups, she loses brain cells, so she better stop quick because she doesn’t have many to spare. Then I asked her to shake the can of whip cream (don’t judge it’s a great snack when you can’t find chocolate at 2 am.) I mischievously suggested that she grab the big guy a beer and see what happens when he opens it. Then I suggested that had she just invented the latest popular dance move, she was going to be a TikTok star! But still the hiccups continued.

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room changed to a serious and dark mood  ̶  she threatened to pass them to me. She thought I was going to fall for that old wives’ tale, contagious schtick? Not a chance. I warned her in my best Jackie Gleason impression that I was going to send her to the moon if she did.

Then I remembered the cure. “Let me just hold you by the feet and hang you from the stairway. It works every time…really…”, I egged her on. She rolled her eyes at me, and finally broke the jokes, with a get serious look. I asked if she had held her breath. That didn’t work. The old plug your nose and swallow resulted in nothing but popped ears (new problem, different story.) So, I tickled her, and promptly got swatted. That one almost always worked. 

Time to haul out the heavy artillery, the big kahuna, the ole reliable. “Can you say the alphabet backwards?” Mission accomplished, mom genius at work, drop the mic. I’m the best mom in the world.

 

Janet Smith is a proud mom of one daughter and a marketing professional who is grateful for her rural roots in the London area. Follow Janet’s funny and honest journey at IG & TT | @re.marketable.janet or FB | @janetsiddallsmith