Claire, Parenting Genius

So you all read yesterday about Laura's horrible coughing and how I may run away from home because of it. I should tell you that I have been informed that it is only what I deserve since as a baby I would cry (a horrible, annoying cry) all day and night, and would not stop unless I was being bounced constantly. I say that sounds pretty bad, but I still feel worse for myself. Yes, I did just say that. And it was easy to say too, because I think that I deserved nothing less than constant bouncing as a baby. And maybe all that bouncing jostled my brain around a little and allowed me, 29 years later, to come up with the best idea on the planet.

I won't claim that I'm the only one to come up with this, but when it occurred to me today, I felt so brilliant that there was practically a flash of light. I have determined that a lot of Laura's coughing is psychological, especially since most of it occurs at home when she is bored. Once she starts coughing, she starts concentrating on the coughing, and can suddenly do nothing else but cough. I don't mean to imply that I am ignoring my child as she can't breathe. What I am implying is that I am being driven crazy by the coughs of a child who has turned coughing into some kind of tic or habit. We've tried distracting her with a game, watching TV, taking a bath, having a snack-nothing works. This weird, constant cough usually happens after her breathing machine and lasts until she finally is distracted, or the more common scenario, gets some cough medicine.

So today she started coughing again. We had just done the breathing machine about an hour before, and she was breathing just fine. After nearly poking my eye out with a needle, I asked her if she needed some cough medicine, and she said yes. So I gave her some of the most delicious cough medicine she had ever tasted (her words). What was this miracle medicine you ask? Sugar Free Cherry Kool-Aid, served as a one teaspoon dosage in a tiny medicine cup.

And yes, the coughing stopped. Please feel free to use this miracle drug in your own home, as needed.