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By Martine Divera, RN, CMT, CIMI
It's 6.30pm and we're starting our bedtime ritual. My daughters Wies (4) and Sara (2) both drink a glass of warm milk and then we're off to the bathroom. On our way, Wies asks "Mom, can we do massage?". "Ok", I say, "I'll put Sara down while you brush your teeth and then we'll do a massage". I take my time putting down Sara.
When I get into Wies' room she's all ready to go; her clothes are in the corner, her blankie is spread on the floor and she's laying on top of it covered by a big towel. "I got the cream, mom", she happily informs me, while she takes off the lit. "Can you draw an animal on my back?" she asks. Since a week this is the big hit during the massage. Before this it was the "weather story" and before that the "pizza bakery". I do a couple of broad strokes over the towel and take the towel back to her hips so her back is uncovered. I take some cream and do some broad strokes over her back.
"Do an animal" she says impatiently and with light fingers I draw my first animal on her back. While she starts thinking I start massaging her back. "Mmmm a lion" she says. "No", I respond. "Mmmm, an elephant?". "No", I say. "Where does it live?", she asks me. "This animal lives on a farm" I tell her. "A sheep" she says. "No, this animal says moooo,moooo" I say. "A cow!" she says happy, "Do another one". I draw another animal and finish the back massage. I cover her back with the towel and uncover one leg. Wies is thinking... "a dog", she says. "No", I say, "this animal lives in the water". "That tickles, mom", she says, while I massage her foot. "When it tickles a little bit, I like it, but when it tickles a lot, I don't like it", she says. "Is this ok?" I ask her, while I change the pressure. "Yes, that tickles only a little bit. Can you do my favorite?" she asks. "Ok", and I start raking my fingers over her leg from top to foot. She starts giggling. "That tickles a lot!" "Too much?" I ask. "No, I like it".
We do a couple of more animals, also on her tummy when she's turned over. "What's in my tummy?" she asks while I'm stroking arms, chest and tummy. "Milk" I say "the milk that you just drank". She looks at me and thinks... "No", she says, "What's inside here?" and she points to her stomach. "Well", I say, "here's your stomach with milk in it" and with my fingers I draw a "stomach" on her tummy. "And here are your intestines' I tell her while I'm drawing "intestines". "What do 'itestis' do?" she asks. "Well... they keep some food for your body for energy, so you can run and jump and from the food that you don't need they make poopoo" I explain, while stroking clockwise circles on her tummy. "Oh..." she says "...and then it comes out?" "Yeah, then it comes out." "And what's here?" she asks, while she points at her ribs. "Those are your ribs" I tell her, while covering up her upper body. "This is hard, mom" she says, pushing on her ribs. "Yeah, ribs are hard, because they're bones. All bones are hard", I say and I start doing some general strokes on her legs.
"Let's look for more bones" she says eagerly. "Here's a bone... and here's one" she says, while scanning her body. "This is not a bone, mom, this is not hard" while she presses into her tummy. "Look, this is a special bone", I say while gently moving her knee cap, "this bone can move." "...Yeah!...........Wow!", she's amazed by her new discovery.
"Let's see if you have bones, mom" she says, while she starts scanning my arms and face. "Here's one", she says, "and this is a big one" while she touches my forehead. "Yeah, you've got bones too!" she says, amazed by another discovery.
"Can I massage you, mom?" she asks. "Ok", I say, "let's do a couple of minutes and then you'll get into bed." "Ok" she agrees. She takes some cream with her finger out of the jar and puts it on my arm. She starts rubbing my arm with her two hands. "I need more cream" she says. "No, you've got enough", I say, looking at my white, creamy arm. I need to be aware that 'massaging mommy' very easily turns into 'putting a lot of cream on mommy'. "Do you want me to do your favorite?" she asks. "Yes, I would love to" I say, and she starts tickling my arm. "Ok, I'm done" she says after a couple of minutes. "Ok, thank you for the massage" I say and give her a kiss. "You're welcome" she says and gets into bed.
After we've said goodnight, she falls asleep within a couple of minutes. It's now 7.15pm and the start of a peaceful evening and night.
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