On Sunday, we were hanging out with the neighbors, watching football. This is how we spend most Sundays. Riley was on my lap, and we were eating popcorn. Riley turned to me, a pitiful look on his face, and said, "Mama, I have to tell you something and I really don't want to."
"It's OK, turkey. You can tell me. What is it?"
"I put a popcorn kernel up my nose."
And with that, he burst into tears, aware that he had done something he should not have done and worried that I would be mad about it.
I wasn't mad. Poor dude had a popcorn kernel up his nose and was clearly beating himself up about it plenty without me chiming in. I can be counted on to become angry when it comes to Dumb Things Over Which I Actually Have Little Control or Other Dumb Things About Which 4.5 Year Olds Cannot Be Expected to Care, but when the rubber hits the road and we have a true Situation on our hands, I generally hold my shit together real good.
We looked up Riley's nose with a flashlight. No kernel visible. We tried a snot-sucker. No kernel. I implored Riley to envision blowing out of his nose so hard that he would shoot the kernel across the room. No kernel. We called my retired doctor dad who praised our tactics and advised that we contact our doctor's nurse advice line. The nurse advised blowing air through Riley's nose in an attempt to force the kernel into his mouth. This was tried. That's a mother's love, people.
At this point, Riley started to claim that the kernel had made its way into his throat and that he'd swallowed it. This is possible, even plausible, but I sure wish that I'd seen the damn thing. The nurse told me to bring Riley to the doctor if he had pain in his nose or any icky discharge, which has not happened. She also told me to have the "don't put stuff in your nose" talk with him. Believe me, we've had that talk many times. I hope this incident drove it home.
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It's sleeting outside. Sleet is totally gross and is likely creating some unpleasant driving conditions, but ultimately it will amount to nothing. I don't miss shoveling Boston snow AT ALL, but I am jealous of the snow day that many of my Boston-area friends will be enjoying tomorrow. Have fun for me, all of you in Boston. Happy snow!
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As part of my job, I supervise the people who run the college print shop. The lease is about up on our biggest copier, and so I've been working with the lead person in the shop to investigate options to replace the machine we have. Today, our Xerox rep drove us to two places in town that use Xerox equipment so that we could see it in action.
The rep reminded me so much of Mr. Brady. He was a vision of Mr. Brady twenty years from now. Mr. Brady also works in sales, and it was that demeanor, that way of making you feel so important, that ease with people, the impeccable manners, the charm, that brought him to mind. When it's good, it's so natural and unforced. None of today's wooing made me want a Xerox copier, but it did make me wonder about this particular personality type and how much of being that way is innate and how much of it is effort. The Xerox guy had a second in command with him, an equally refined and knowledgeable guy, but one for whom the demeanor felt nurture rather than nature, and who thus gave off a bit of the sleazy vibe. No, not even sleazy, I wouldn't go that far, but just forced.
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Z continues to be fantastic.
Maddie and Riley continue to be charming and wonderful.
Work continues to be . . . challenging on the days that I have the right attitude and somewhat of a drag on the days that I don't.
My motivation to do much other than eat and read once the kids are in bed for the night is pretty much nil.
Sleet is still coming down. If it's icy enough, maybe there will be a "snow" day tomorrow after all? (I'm ignoring the weather reports that say this will all just be rain before daybreak. A girl can dream.)
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9 comments:
Poor Riley and the popcorn kernel! I'm glad it seemed to resolve itself in the end.
And, Sacha joins you in wishing against the forecast for a snow day tomorrow! We're keeping our fingers crossed :)
Reminds me of the anecdote in Little Men where Jo recounts putting a pebble in her nose.
When my son put a berry up his nose, he finally sneezed it out (mere minutes after we'd been advised to head to the emergency room if it didn't come out soon). The next day a friend told I should have tried holding shut the nostril it wasn't in and blowing into/through the mouth. Luckily we never had a second incident of this and I hope you won't either.
my son once put a small lego up his nose and, though I wasn't mad, after I had fished it out with tweezers, I faked a moderate level of super serious, don't ever do that again type attitude even though what I really wanted to do was laugh. We also confiscated the little legos till he turned 5.
Glad he's okay (we hope).
So glad things are going well with Z.
Hang in there with work. :)
Did you have the "Don't put anything in your ear" talk, too? That could be even worse.
I admire your efforts in getting the popcorn kernel out. I think I would have given up after the snot sucker!
2 years old and a certs candy, I blew in his mouth one quick hard blow and certs, snot and a little oreo cookie shot out on my cheek but it saved a trip to the ER.
Should it happen again, another vote for find out which nostril it's in, block the other, place your mouth over the kid's a give a short sharp CPR-like puff. It will fly out, like magic.
Worked twice in the space of a week here. So he failed to learn the first time, but he is a bit younger than R.
Thank you for sharing thiis
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