I haven't been blogging regularly at all, so to get myself inspired, I've decided to change the focus of Grammiejay blog to memories. I've got lots of them, like most people, and many of them involve my darling children....so to make sure future generations do not miss out on these fascinating recollections, I will add them to this blog as the spirit moves. Also will try to persuade my sister Joy to guest blog, since she is the deep data bank of family memories.

First recollection....
Jim, my first born, was a lovely baby, and pretty undemanding as far as babies go. Jim slept reasonably well, and had good digestion most of the time. I had done a lot of babysitting, since from an early age I was fascinated and charmed by these little ones, but had not much experience with the little tiny ones. I got a lot of advice from my Mom, and when Jim got very constipated at around 2 months of age, I called on her for help. Jim's little belly was tight, and he was clearly not feeling his usual good tempered self. When the usual remedies; more water, a little bit of prune juice, gentle belly rubbing, warm washcloth applied to belly, failed to work, my Mom advised more aggressive measures. Remember that she came from a time period when pharmacies didn't offer much more than aspirin, and folk remedies were very common. So mom told me to make a soap stick (a small match stick carving of plain bar soap) and shove it up his tiny butt and hold it there till it worked. I placed Jim face down on my lap, removed diaper, gently inserted soap stick and waited. Jim squirmed a bit, but didn't seem particularly uncomfortable and eventually it worked spectacularly. I remember the soap stick being shot clear across the room with a resounding long and loud fart, copious poop, and grateful sigh from both child and parent. Another one of those things that kid owes me for...sitting with my finger holding his tiny rectum shut for 10 minutes with him bent over my lap. Oh, and then the clean up too. I used this remedy at least once on each of the subsequent infants, and it remains one of those tried and true solutions to a common infant problem. One can buy glycerine suppositories in pharmacies that carry old fashioned stuff, but if you can't find these, well now you know what to do.