I have been making vanilla for over thirty years. When my children were small I would open up the aging bottles so they could smell the rich scent of the vanilla beans slowly percolating. Growing up we would put it in cookies and cakes but I learned another application when I had my own children. On the occasions of sleepless nights and bad dreams, a teaspoon of vanilla in a glass of hot milk with honey, mixed in with spices like ginger, cinnamon, cardamon and nutmeg would soothe them to sleep.  Now my children pass this tradition on to their own.