"You're not made of sugar"

My father was an only child; my mother was 6th of 9. So while I was pretty special to my paternal grandmother, I was something like the 19th kid my maternal grandmother had to deal with.

By the time I came around, she was thoroughly unfazed by the dings and dents kids inevitably suffer from. Unless you were bleeding from your ears, you were more likely to hear the phrase, "Don't worry. You'll get better before you get married" than anything sympathetic.

Given that her mother descended from the Schwenks and the Selders families, who'd come from southwestern Germany, I understand better where these kinds of things come from.

"Du bist nicht aus Zucker" (You are not made of sugar) is one I heard recently, and it reminded me of her.