Saturday, April 4, 2009

A little too nosey

"Oh, my treasure!" Chickie's excited voice rose from the stroller, where she was getting settled for our morning walk yesterday. She picked up "her treasure"--a little red bead she'd found a few days ago at the park.

As we walked down the driveway--the dog tied to my waist, Chickie and Zoodle in the stroller--Chickie cried, "Oh, no, my treasure!"

Figuring she'd dropped it, I said, "You'll have to find it when we get home, Chickie."

She began to cry. "It's stuck in my nose!"

Oh, no. Not again.

I stopped the stroller, grabbed a tissue, and instructed her, "Blow! Blow it out!" She tried, but the treasure did not emerge, and her frightened nasal inhaling certainly wasn't helping the matter.

"Okay," I told her, turning the stroller around and walking back up the driveway, "we'll have to go to the hospital."

Immediately, Chickie panicked. "No, Mommy!" she protested. "I didn't put it in my nose! I dropped it! I dropped it!"

As quickly as I could, I took Chickie out of the stroller and deposited her inside, where she continued to sob and to scream her insistence that she'd dropped the treasure; it wasn't in her nose. I put the dog in his crate, where he was not thrilled to lose his walk (that's his "treasure"), and I put Zoodle in his car seat.

Next, I called The Engineer at his desk. When there was no answer, I called the receptionist. "Hi, Susan," I said. "It's Beth. I need to talk to The Engineer--it's an emergency." She quickly and calmly told me she would get him, and soon I was explaining the situation to him. He agreed to meet us at the ER.

Meanwhile, Chickie's screams continued, and she was running around the living room, determined that her short little legs could go fast enough to avoid me. I could tell that wrestling her into the car seat, and then into the hospital, was going to be difficult without a good, strong tranquilizer, and wouldn't you know it--I was fresh out of darts. Add a baby into the mix, and the task was sure to be nearly impossible. So I decided to take Zoodle over to a neighbor's house.

I rushed toward the garage to retrieve Zoodle, and suddenly from the living room I heard a much calmer Chickie voice proclaim, "Mommy! My treasure came out of my nose!"

And there it was, a little red bead, in her hand (and very soon thereafter in the trash.) My whole body filled with relief.

Immediately, I called The Engineer's office again. "Hi, Susan," I said. "Can you tell The Engineer not to leave? The bead came out."

"What?"

Oh, apparently he hadn't filled her in on the details of his family emergency. "The bead came out of Chickie's nose."

So the receptionist got a story to tell at dinnertime; the dog got his walk; I got to avoid yet another nose-related ER bill, and Chickie--hopefully--got rid of all desire to be so nosey.

12 comments:

Anna said...

wow, what a day!
I'm so glad none of my kids ever put anything up their noses!
(that's hard to believe huh?)

SciFi Mama said...

Wow. What is it with our girls and stuff up their noses? I haven't found anything up there since the yellow flower. And I'm really glad.

beckiwithani said...

You'll get your revenge on her someday. This is one you'll tell her boyfriends...

Unknown said...

I kept blowing my nose as I read this. Actually, I think it's allergies -- I didn't find a bead.

Well told, Beth!

A Girl Named Me said...

Poor Chickie! Poor Mommy!

Lucky us for the story!

xoox
AGirlNamedMe

Dan & Hillary said...

I love your posts! Sorry about the drama, though. She won't forget any time soon!

Bloggymommy said...

LOL! Oh no! Glad it came out! A daughter of a friend of mine did that same thing with popcorn! lol

C. Beth said...

Anna--Oh, wait, DON'T JINX IT! ;)

SciFiMama--Hopefully the flower taught Paige her lesson--we'll see!

beckiwithani--Yes, good boyfriend story!

Dad--I'd be concerned if you blew a bead out of your nose....

A Girl Named Me--Thank you; I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Hillary--Oh, she'd BETTER not forget!!

Bloggymommy--Hmm, popcorn. That would get rather soggy up there. Ew.

Diane said...

If it makes you feel any better, my three year old has done this a total of 7 times. 4 of them involving a trip to the doctor. Ugh.

Michelle Brunner said...

I'm glad the bead came out on it's own accord! There is a "legend" in my family that my aunt put a bean up her nose when she was little and it started to sprout! She swears it's true...

Becky said...

Oh no! Glad you didn't have to do an ER trip, anyway! Somehow, I've been lucky enough to avoid that with either of my kids so far. Hmmm, not sure I should have typed that out because I'm probably jinxed now.

Suzanne McClendon said...

Mommyhood is such an adventure, isn't it?

My youngest daughter has rammed a butter knife up her nose, handle end first; dropped beads into her case that she was wearing after breaking her arm because Big Brother had her jump off the porch to "catch" a teddy bear; eaten kitty litter; and poked something in her eye.

I think that she's been my biggest adventure so far. haha