I'll Make You Some Jello...

By the time Gus was almost a year old (summer of 1960), I was eleven and was usually in charge of ‘talking’ him to sleep in his crib if he was crying. I remember Kristi really being in charge of him when Mother was busy, but if Gus was especially fussy and if Kristi had a lot of homework to do, then she would ask me to sit in the big, overstuffed chair in Mom & Dad’s room – right next to Gus’ crib, and just talk or sing to him until he fell asleep.

I remember one night being particularly frustrated with Gus’ crying and really had no idea how I was going to get him to settle down. Then, suddenly I felt a bright light go on inside my eleven year old brain when I remembered how much Gus liked Jello.

I whispered, “Gus, do you want me to make you some Jello?” Well, that little rascal stopped crying in the middle of a sob and the room went completely quiet. His little head turned my way and he smiled as big as Oklahoma while nodding his head, ‘Yes!’ Next I said to him, “You close your eyes and lay there really, really quiet and I’ll make you some Jello.”

Gus’s entire little body relaxed. He closed his eyes into a tight squint and didn’t make a sound as I went out of the room and shut the door. A few minutes later I tiptoed into the room to check on him and sure enough, he was sound asleep. I went on my merry way without thinking another thing about making Jello.

A little while later, I was telling Daddy how cute it was that Gus went to sleep quickly thinking about Jello. Daddy was very patient with me, but he explained that I couldn’t promise something to anyone – even a baby – without following through to keep that promise. He asked me to go into the kitchen and make some Jello for Gus to eat the next day.

I remember promising Jello to little Gus many times after that to get him to cooperate with me when I was babysitting or caring for him. After this experience, however, I always followed through and made the Jello. In fact, I often let Gus help me make the Jello for Sunday dinner during those years we lived in the Bountiful house. And to this day, I like to have a little one standing on a chair next to me whenever I make J-E-L-L-O.