The Two and a Half Year Old Healer

Last evening, I was enjoying a moment of solitude on my sofa in the living room. My feet were kicked up on a pillow and I was in the throes of a crossword puzzle, my new and really enjoyable hobby, when my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter who was visiting hopped up into my lap. I watched her gaze at my feet intently and was waiting for her to comment on the nail polish on my toes. She looked at the outside of my left ankle and tenderly stated, “Bamma need a ban-aid”! Before I had a chance to ask for an explanation, she skipped over to the infamous kitchen junk drawer, pulled out a Dora the Explorer brand bandage from the box, grabbed a diaper wipe from her little Minnie Mouse back pack and got to work.


She wiped my ankle clean and left it with the smell of aloe and love. Her little fingers peeled the wrapping off of the bandage and with surgical precision, placed it onto my skin. After she got up to toss the wrapper into the trash, she joyfully re-approached me, and covered my ankle with little kisses, proclaiming that I was now “all bettah”.

Are we born to be healers and providers of caring and love to others, or is this a process which is learned and environmental in concept? We are a big, loving, close and passionate family. We care about and for each other very carefully, and I suppose that little Tinkerbella was simply emulating the care which we readily provide her in the event of incurring an owie. I wonder if it is this emulation which resonates with her very soul. Not all children are as ready to give of themselves to others. This tiny lady of ours pats our pillows to tell us it is time to go to sleep, covers our feet with blankets and takes very special care of her “babies” (dolls). She is quite insightful, we notice, and especially sensitive and empathetic when she senses something has or is going awry, often times before we even realize that something is happening.

While we foster this trait in her, we also don’t want her to feel as though it is expected of her, for it is our charge as her grandparents to care for and nurture her. Her father, our son feels the same. This being said, her caring and healing for others is as much a part of her as her love of going to play at Chuck E Cheese, her new scooter, Brussels sprouts (yes-she loves them), and…Dora.

After she went home with her Daddy last night, I got ready for bed and took a look at my ankle. I removed the bandage, and although there was no pain, scratch or obvious need for it, the ankle was actually swollen. I replaced the bandage as a symbol of the message that she brings to our hearts, and that is that we are who we are, no matter what we are exposed to. We are our authentic selves, and we are just who, and how we are supposed to be, for the highest good of all.

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