Hiccups

There are only a couple of things that I *really* dislike. Fake chocolate, photographs with obvious traces of poorly used flash, and . . . hiccups. Seriously. Hiccups are HORRIBLE.

Thankfully, from a young age I was taught a nearly foolproof method of getting rid of them. All you have to do is drink a glass of water upside down. Perhaps this doesn't make sense, so I'll explain (because you ARE going to want to try this next time you have them). Usually you put your lips on the part of the cup closest to your body right? What you need to do is put your lips on the OTHER side. Whenever I do it my entire family comes into the kitchen and stares at me like I'm performing some sort of circus act. Fine. It looks wierd. But it WORKS!

Because James is too young to successfully master this technique, and because he hates the hiccups as much as I do, I rely on a different method for him. Here's the typical scenario. I'm sitting at the table feeding Colin rice cereal. James comes running down the stairs, screaming that he has the hiccups. I wait a couple of seconds, pretend like I didn't hear him, and then, "BOOOO!!!!" I turn around with my scariest face and loudest voice, and knock his socks off. Hiccups are gone. Does the trick every time.

So back to the upside-down-water method. Ninety-nine out of 100 times, it works. Today was the 100th time. IT WAS NOT working. James was watching me with his WHAT-are-you-DOING?? face, while I kept chugging. Nothing. Finally I let out a semi-loud sigh of frustration. "What's wrong?" he asked. "I have the hiccups," I told him.

James looked at me, and then shouted "BOOOOO!"
Didn't work. Good effort though James. What a helper!