Legos Up the Nose

It finally happened.

Every parent seems to have a "my kid stuck a {item} in their {orifice}" story, except us. Until now.

Last night I was playing legos with my boys when the youngest started crying for no apparent reason. I tried to get him to tell me what was wrong, but as anyone with young kids can attest, it's hard to understand them when they're crying, even if you can get them to answer. But I thought I heard "lego" and "nose".

He was starting to get panicky by this point, so I figured action was the best course of...action. I picked him up and hurried him upstairs to the master bathroom, which is the brightest room in the house and where we keep most of the first aid supplies.

I parked him on the counter and tried to see up his nose, which was, as most noses are, dark. By then my wife had caught on what was happening, and I sent her to get a flashlight. Sure enough, there was a small, green lego stuck up my son's nose.

I got the tweezers and was going to try grabbing it, but realized I couldn't get a clear view of the edges and was afraid I'd just succeed in shoving it farther in. Instead I opted for another approach. I held his mouth shut and told him to blow out through his nose.

I don't know if he managed to do it (our kids are not particularly good at blowing their noses for some reason--perhaps an aversion to it gained from hearing their allergic father honking like a foghorn every day), or if he was just exhaling naturally, but the lego popped right out.

Poor kid. His mother and I immediately started laughing. He usually has a pretty good sense of humor, but that's one he couldn't bring himself to laugh along about. I think the whole thing spooked him a little.

And that's probably a good thing. Perhaps he'll be a little less eager to stuff things in his nose in the future.