Take Your Medicine

Right now Gabe (one of the little boys I watch) is sick with a pretty bad cold. On Monday and Tuesday he had a fever, but today the fever is gone. There remains though a horrible cough that is deep in his chest. But even though it makes him feel better, he hates to take his medicine!
I remember being sick when I was little and the things my mom would do to get me to take my medicine. There was the horrible mashing up of tylenol and mixing it with a spoonful of honey or jelly. I absolutely hated jelly and the only time jelly was used was when it was someone other than my mom giving me my medicine. (And they found out real quick how much I hated jelly.) Sometimes there would still be a big chunk of tylenol that hadn't quite been mashed enough and it would get stuck in one of my back teeth. Then I would have to try and get it out with my tongue. (I shiver just thinking about it.) Once my mom brought me my spoonful of honey and tylenol with a glass of water. I put the honey in my mouth and then spit it out into the glass of water while pretending to take a drink. I thought I had gotten out of taking my medicine, but of course my mom knew what I had done. She made me drink the entire glass of water!
Then there is the liquid, grape flavored medicine. It is suppose to taste good so kids will want to take it, but I always remember that the taste always seemed to make me feel worse. It was awful!
And there were also the chewable advil and tylenol. These were just as bad! Again, the grape ones seemed to be the worst. I would chew them up as fast as I could, but of course, some would get stuck in my teeth. I would then gulp down a big glass of water.
But along with the bad there were a couple of medicines that actually tasted yummy. One was orange triaminic. I remember I loved to take my orange triaminic. Not only did it taste good but it would clear up my little nose so I wouldn't have to sleep with my mouth open. Having to sleep with my mouth open was torture, but orange triaminic was my hero.
And there were the times I had ear infections and my mom would pick up yummy pink medicine from the pharmacy. And it had to be kept in the fridge. I know that when people hear "pink medicine" they think about pepto-bismal. But this medicine in no way tasted like pepto-bismal. It was some kind of antibiotic. All I remember is that I liked the taste and it made my ears feel better.
So, I will say I am very glad to be able to swallow pills whole now. No more chunks of tylenol in my teeth, thank you very much! :)