Red Crayon Extraction Mission

A 3 year old boy wouldn't truly be 3 until he shoved something up his nose. I've heard horror stories from my friends about when they were little or of their own children shoving things in their noses or ears. These stories always ended up with infection or a trip to the emergency room. So, I was a little panicked when I say across the room "who wants a cookie" and his response is "I do, but I need this cwayon out of my nose fiwst."

I stopped and just stood there. Surely he was joking? Nope, a piece of red crayon was stuck in his right nostril just far enough in that I couldn't get it with my pinky finger. Just big enough that I couldn't tell him to breath in hoping it'd come out his mouth or that he'd swallow it. Just far enough in that I'd have to get tweezers and hope to God that I didn't pierce his brain. Just far enough in that I would probably have had to take him to the pediatrician's office (who I've visited probably 4 times already in January. The kids' doc and I are becoming BFFs) and ask them to remove it.

I called my husband at work and he just said "are you kidding?" Then he laughed. He knows how freaked out I get over situations like this - I could *never* be a nurse. He told me to wait until he got home if I felt as if I couldn't get it out.

So, I laid bubbies down, asked P to get her princess flashlight and shine it up his nose (now, she would make a good surgical nurse - steady and on the ready with that light she was), and I inserted the tweezers. That baby boy just laid there and let me do it. It was really quite cute. But, I didn't have time for coos, I was on a red crayon extraction mission. It failed.

I called hubby back and one of his coworkers suggested to make the boy sneeze. Well, low and behold, as I was on the phone bubbies let out not one, but two sneezes. I immediately got off the phone, told P to grab her princess flashlight again, and I scrubbed up (no, not really, no time for that!). My hopes of the sneeze dislodging that crayon were met, and I calmly put the tweezers up his nose and pulled out what was a much smaller piece of crayon than I imagined. bubbies said, "thanks mom" and gave me a big hug.

P.S. He shoved a popcorn kernal up his nose three days later. Immediately came up pointing to his nose and saying "sorry." That one was much harder to get out b/c of the way it is shaped. I had to do the old snake bite wound method to help me out. yuck.