a first, and a couple of seconds of panic...

it is inevitable. in the joy of raising children there are a few moments of terror. like the time you lost the baby in the mall, or when he runs out into the street chasing a ball. then there are moments of just panic, like the slipping down the stairs, or shoving something up their nose.

yesterday was such a day for us. it wasn't the terror, it was the panic. it was the first time in my career as a mom, that i had to find something shoved up my baby's nose. it was a popcorn kernel shoved innocently up the nose of my 2 year old.

he started crying out to me, pointing at his nose and saying "paw-corn". my heart jumped a bit. i immediately thought of my niece who had once shoved popcorn up her nose, only to have it sprout a couple of days later. not wanting a plant growing out of my sons face, i decided to take a look. i saw the offending kernel sitting just at the precipice of his sinus, on the edge of floating into outer darkness.

i knew if screamed, or sucked too hard in, it would be gone, and we would be at the insta care handing over cash and holding him down. this is the point i refused to panic. but i did anyway. i found the nose sucker thing, and prayed that he would let me suck it right out. i tried to keep fussy calm, but at this point of seeing the dreaded nose sucker, he started crying. maybe the tears would help make the nose a little more slippery? i wasn't sure, but i was hoping that if i kept him upright, gravity would help. and it did. i sucked it out 3 times. on the third i saw the dangling little kernel just begging for me to pull it out. and it did. i slid my finger down his nose and out it popped. there is a first time for everything. and this truly was it. you wouldn't think that it would be almost 9 years of being a mommy until i had this problem.

thank goodness it was that easy. thank goodness the nose sucker was handy. and thank goodness i didn't completely lose my cool. like i have, so many other times...