Monday, March 31, 2008

Macaroni


Things were really good for a few months. No markers on the wall, no lotion all over the carpet, nothing broken or damaged. I admit, I got a little complacent. It felt good to be out of the Toddler stage, where I had to watch him every second.

That's why I was a little baffled when Ty came screaming into my room that something was stuck up his nose. No worries, though, we'd get it fixed. As I went searching for my tweezers, he sneezed, and out came a macaroni. I laughed, and said how great it was that his body took care of the problem by itself, but that he really shouldn't put things up his nose. He laughed, too. I laughed again as I told his dad, in front of him. Daddy laughed.

Hmmm....I guess we laughed a little too much and instructed a little too little.

The next day, same story, second verse: Tyler came screaming to me with yet another macaroni up his nose. (Note to self: when you spill some macaroni in the pantry, clean it up. Today!) He was trying to sneeze, and nothing was coming out, and he was a little panicked.

"It's not coming out! It's not coming out! I'm sneezing and it's not coming out! It's supposed to come out when I sneeze!"

Wait. He did this on purpose, just so he could sneeze it out again and we could all laugh again? (Note to self: laugh more at the positive things he does. Today!)

I got the tweezers. Too far up there, macaroni turned a bit soft, so I only got a portion. Reminded me of the time I got a live moth trapped in my ear and my dad pulled out a single wing, while the rest of the bug was frantically beating against my ear drum. But I digress.

Next I remembered the time my nephew Reed stuck a peanut up his nose. My sister awesomely blew up the unclogged nostril and the peanut popped out. I tried that on Ty. Nothing.

At this point I started to get a little worried. I went back to the tweezers. Nothing. Encouraged him to blow out his nose. Nothing. Blew his open nostril again. Nothing. Held him upside-down by his ankles. That's how my mom saved me from choking on a butterscotch hard candy once. I know he wasn't choking, but give me a break, okay? Anyway, nothing.

Brad came home at some point during all this and Dr. Daddy took over. With the tweezers. He finally stopped when Ty was wailing and thrashing around so much that if this were the game Operation, the buzzer would have been a solid BBBEEEEEEPPP!

Finally, the inspiration came to Dr. Daddy: Neil's Nasal Cleanse. This baby has been known to flush out pieces of infection and gunk that were soundly lodged deep in the cavities of the sinuses. Its powerful stream reminds me of our trip to Yellowstone to see the Old Faithful Geyser.

After reassuring Ty that this would not hurt, Brad let that deceptively benign-looking contraption do its thing. Out popped the half-dry, half-soft macaroni into the sink. Cheers were heard throughout the neighborhood.

"Are you ever going to stick anything up your nose again?"

"No Mommy. I guess sneezing doesn't work everytime."

"Nope, I guess not."

16 comments:

  1. Hey, we have that same nasal sinus rinse. It's awesome! Oh, by the way, I didn't blow into Reed's unclogged nostril. I blew into his mouth while plugging up the unplugged nostril.
    Glad Ty has learned all about sticking things up his nose.

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  2. I need to get some of that rinse. Sounds like a good thing to have on hand.
    Cute story. You have a darling way of posting!

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  3. Oh' boy is the rinse ever powerful! I just want to say that the cheers extended even into our neighborhood. Here's to thinking toddlerhood ever ends! Love it!

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  4. You are such a great writer! I totally felt the humor, then anxiety of the situation. Glad it had a happy ending!

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  5. Oh! You blew in his mouth, not his nose! I wish I had remembered that correctly! Oh well, it's all resolved now.

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  6. Reminds me of the time that Sophia got a cheerio stuck up her nose in the middle of Big Lots and blew it out in the cart just in time for an employee to walk by and see it fly out of her nose and through the holes of the cart onto the floor. I love your descriptives!

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  7. Oh what a story! I love they way you told it! It's a little scary - Aaron has had to remove a a few things from noses in the ER and clinic. I'm glad he's OK. Little boys sure do love experiments!

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  8. Oh...poor thing.

    It's amazing how things balloon up once they get in their nose. One of my kids got a piece of rice in their nose once and it was huge when it came out. Bleck.

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  9. oh my goodness, this is so funny! (and you are a great writer!)

    p.s. i love your photos on your wall in the previous post--they are AWESOME!

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  10. Definitely a post to read when you need a good laugh! I think we've only had m&m's and tic tacs in our kids' noses...

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  11. Kids are so funny! Anything for a laugh!

    You're a great story teller, Sal.

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  12. Love this post. I agree with the others that you're a great story teller. Funny, and yet a great teaching experience!

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  13. Thanks for the comment on my blog. i can't believe how old Ty is. I still remember when you just had brought him home when you were living by Andrea and Todd. What are you doing in Texas? What is your husband doing? Love your house colors!

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  14. Wow. My sister stuck a peanut up her nose that ended up finally being removed by an ER doctor. What fun that was for everyone. Children will never change, will they. It's like these insane ideas linger in the air from long forgotten childhood to be snatched out of the air and tried again.

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  15. I won't be suprised when this happens to one of my kids since Pete is basically teaching them how to stick thing up there nose by doing it himself...at the dinner table no less! Just tonight he stuck two cherry tomatoes up his nose, one in each nostril! We all yelled gross, but that didn't stop him...oh no! Next came the celery up the nose!

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  16. Sally-
    What a funny story to tell him when he is a teenager in front of his friends! My little brother did the same thing with a light bright...but my Mom called 911 and the fire department came...they got it out with a pair of really long tweezers...I guess this thing happens a lot! Take care!

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