I have been working on a post about our Puerto Rico trip but this is funny and I figured I would share it first since my other post is taking me longer to work on. I am sharing this much to my husband’s chagrin but I think I’ve convinced him that it’s one of those harmless parenting gaffes worth sharing. 

It all started last week when my husband’s grandmother came to stay with us for a few days. One evening I made a spinach pesto sauce using raw spinach, fresh garlic, a little olive oil and parmesan cheese. It’s delicious over pasta and less expensive than the traditional basil and pine nut recipe. I had a lot of sauce left over so I used a cupcake pan to freeze it into portion sized pucks I could use later. Once frozen I transferred them into a zip top bag. 

Fast forward to Friday when we were set to head out to Clearwater for the weekend. I slept in for a little bit after Diego woke up so my husband was on duty. When I made my way downstairs I thought I smelled garlic but I didn’t dwell on it since it was impossible that my husband had cooked anything with it that early in the morning. Diego was in his bouncy seat playing while my husband flitted about in the kitchen. I made my way over to greet Diego when I noticed green stains on his shirt. I immediately knew something was not right. I hadn’t made him the peas and green beans I’d just bought. All I had in the freezer was some cantaloupe, oatmeal and banana. 

I asked my husband what he’d fed him knowing full well what his answer would be. 

“I fed him one of those green pucks you have in the freezer. They smelled kinda weird.”

“Weird!?” I shrieked. “That was spinach pesto sauce with lots of garlic. He stinks!”

My husband quickly became panicked and snatched Diego up. The garlic smell was secondary to the apparent runny mess already in his diaper. He rushed him upstairs for a bath. I trailed behind him inquiring as to how he could miss the strong garlic smell. His answer amused me. He thought they were green beans because they smelled so bad. Even more amusing is the fact that Diego seemed to enjoy the concoction. 

As he bathed him he worriedly asked me if the garlic would harm him. I reassured him that it would not and reminded him that Diego is not a dog. I was laughing at his expense but in reality his error is partly my fault. I normally label everything in the freezer but failed to do so this time. In addition I threw in the bag on the side of the freezer where I keep the food I make for Diego. I was definitely complicit in his error. 

On our way to Clearwater, Diego had another soiled diaper. It was a little runnier than usual which I attributed to the spinach pesto. His mouth and breath were foul and offensive. The poor guy was a little garlic clove. The smell got to me and by the end of our four hour drive I was a nauseated, dizzy mess. I think it may have been a combination of getting car sick and being in the back seat with a baby emitting toxic fumes. 

Once we were settled into our room and I had some fresh air I felt a lot better. That evening we bathed him again but his mouth was still very smelly. I considered wiping down his gums with a washcloth but I worried his tongue was in on the stench action. What finally tempered the odor was a jar of banana puree. I don’t know that bananas neutralize the sulphuric compounds that are responsible for the bad breath caused by garlic but I noticed a significant improvement. By the next morning Diego no longer smelled.

This incident has had us laughing all weekend. I think it’s our first official stupid mistake as parents. Many more to come I am sure. To sum up the sauce did not have any ill effects aside from looser stools and bad breath. I am now committed to making use of my Sharpie. 

Here is Garlic Boy as he happily and innocently stunk up the backseat, ha ha!