banana flavored medicine

i had an experience over the weekend that i wanted to share... as you know, we've been struggling with andrew's reflux quite a bit. we now have him on two prescriptions in hopes of giving him some relief (we have yet to notice much but i'll write about that later). as much as he hated taking the zantac, he really hates having to now take the prevacid as well. i wondered when the pharmacy called and wanted to know if we wanted it to be banana flavored or butterscotch. anyway... the first two nights of trying to give him the medicine, he wouldn't swallow it and just spit it back out of his mouth. so mason contrived this handy little gadget thinking we could trick him into swallowing his medicine.

i'm not sure how much we trick him, his face lets us know that he is not enjoying having to swallow the stuff, but his love of his pacifier (this is actually his old one from the hospital) wins and he finally swallows the medicine. even with the modified pacifier, it still takes both mason and i working to get andrew to take his medicine; i try to hold him still and mason mans the pacifier and syringe. on saturday night we were giving it to him and the second the medicine hit his mouth, andrew started to grimace and grunt in protest. mason was slowly easing the medicine into his mouth and i was talking to andrew saying, "i know you don't like this but it's going to make you feel better" (we hope). i kept telling him how mom and dad loved him but that he had to take his medicine even though he didn't like it. i told him that i knew he didn't understand but that mom and dad did. i asked him to trust us. suddenly i realized what i was saying and an understanding passed through my mind. i've already learned much about my Father in Heaven through this experience of becoming a mother. i see Him more as a parent now and this particular experience helped solidify this new understanding. i realized that it is much the same with me and my Heavenly Father. as i have challenges and trials, i do much more than grimace and grunt at the discomfort. but i imagine Heavenly Father saying the same thing to me, "I know you don't understand but this is for your good. Have Faith. I love you." i'm trying to think about that this week in hopes of changing my attitude and being grateful for challenges and trials because of the opportunity to be shaped and molded into a better person.