A Loving Solution

--------------- Forwarded Message ---------------



From: 	Lincoln Rd. McHenry, IL, 71222,645

To: 	FetterNet

Date: 	Fri, Nov 11, 1994, 7:22



RE: 	oh no -- another story!



                        A Loving Solution



        Our family had moved out of its Age of Creation and into its Age

of Development. There hadn't been a new baby for five years and we all

realized there weren't going to be anymore newcomers. We were a complete

family. Two parents and eight boys filling the spectrum from preschool to

high school. With no babies to care for, my mother was free to worry about

any real or perceived problems that she wanted to focus her energies upon.

This is a story about one such problem in which our youngest, Michael, is

the central figure.



        After five years it was official, Michael was the "baby of the

family". Baby of the family was a stage that was pretty shortlived for the

bulk of us. The first four of us were never even old enough to know we

were the baby of the family before we weren't anymore. The longest any of

us retained the title was 19 months. The stats are as follows: Kent - 18

months, Roger - 13 months (shortest title holder), Craig - 19 months,

Dennis. Then Jeff came along and he was - the sibling who would be baby.

For four long years Jeff was the baby of the family. It was an

unprecedented reign. We treated him with all of the deference and ogling

that babies of the family receive as their natural due. We looked out for

him. We spoke with pride about our cute li'l brother, Jeff. We even tried

to (gasp!) -- spoil him! Oh, that baby jeff had it good.



        It all came to an end for jeff on his 4th birthday. David entered

the world stealing not only Jeff's babyhood, but also taking away Jeff's

own special day, March 15th. From now and for all time Jeff had to share a

birthday with this scrawny blue eyed interloper. The gods can be so cruel!

Like Caesar before him, Jeff gerdes learned the hard way, "Beware the Ides

of March!"



        Dave was a baby for almost 2 years when Louis George gerdes arrived

two days before Leap Day in 1960. And Lou was the baby for a similar

period, before Michael came along in December 1962. We had learned our

lesson though. No more baby this, baby that. Even after Michael had blew

by jeff's record of an exact quadrennial, his "baby of the family

situation" had a unique feel to it. We treated Micheal differantly. It was

as if we collectivly all felt, been there...done that. For the most part

Michael was just one of the family, not the "baby of the family". There

was, however, one aspect of Michael's babyhood that had my mother really

concerned.



        Michael was more attached to his baby blanket than her 7 preceding

children had been to their blankets combined. He refused to go to bed

without it. He lugged it around with him most of the morning. He couldn't

take a nap without his blankie. When Mom was able to spirit it away from him

in order to wash it, he physically  waited in front of the dryer for it to

come out. I can still picture Michael sitting cross legged staring at the

dryer door. He was equally charming and pathetic. The little goof had a

seriuos fixation going.



        Mom let me in on her being worried about Michael. I'm not sure if

she was looking for support for her theory or hoping to pick my teenage

brain for a solution to this problem. She did see it as a problem. Oh,

maybe not so large now, but what if this continues? What was he going to

do next year in kindergarten if he was non-functional without his blanket

at his side?



        I mentioned to mom that I had read of this exact problem in an Ann

Landers column. A child was going on 6 years old, he was totally into his

blanket. The mother, sensing that he would never ever give up the blanket,

embarked on a plan in which the blanket would disappear. Every time she

washed it she snipped off a half inch strip. In a few months the blanket

was gonzo. According to his mother it worked like a charm. Ann Landers

gave her stamp of approval by gushing about what a wise and clever

solution the mother had come up with. Dolores and I took one look at

Michael mesmerized by the droning dryer, and decided that this

disappearing act was too dangerous for our case.



        It just happened that around this time Barbara Pellachoud was

getting close to delivering her 9th child. This was a big deal to our

household because our family had a definite linkage with the Pellachoud

clan. The Pellachouds, who lived just a block away from us on Lafayette

Street, had also had eight consecutive boys. In fact for every Gerdes

there was a matching Pellachoud in both sex and age. Amazing! Kent and

Pat...Roger and Bill...Craig and Joe...Dennis and Dan...Jeff and Paul...

Dave and Davey...Lou and Jim...Michael and Mikey! Towards the end I guess

they couldn't come up with original names. Anyway, we were all interested

if this new baby was going to be another boy. Read your history, man. This

was a Pellachoud we were talking about.



                EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

                  PELLACHOUDS HAVE A BABY GIRL!



        That's right sports fans. The Pellachoud\Gerdes streak of male

offspring had ended at sixteen! They named her Mary. In those days women

generally spent a week or more in the hospital after childbirth. Before

Barbara and Mary came home there was plenty of time for everyone to go on

and on about how unbelievable it all was. No way Michael could have missed

out on the fact there was a new baby down the road.



        From this point on I know what happened. I am not exactly sure how

it happened. I like to think the following is what actually did take

place.



        Mom went out to buy a present for Mary. When she went to visit

Barbara she took Michael along. And every where that Michael went, the

blanket was sure to go. At the Pellachoud's Mom gave her present to Mary.

Then Michael placed his blanket in Mary's crib. He told my mother, "it's a

baby blanket and Mary is the new baby". Poof! Problem solved.



        Maybe this is an idealized version I have deluded myself into

believing all these years. Maybe Mom just  just seized the moment and

slipped a "give the blanket to the new baby idea" into Michael's trusting

mind. It doesn't matter who's idea it was. Michael has always been a

giving person. Plus, this thoroughly Christian act freed him to become the

kind of guy who could walk into that first day of kindergarten without a

blanket over his shoulder.