those tiny peas, beans, beads & polly pocket shoes!

What's to be concerned about with that nice pile of green Thanksgiving peas in front of that toddler? Nothing, right? They're tasty, nutritious, they keep a toddler busy & silent eating for awhile and hey, they even have some fibre. But, then one goes up his nose!

YES, his nose. That cute nose there on the left. I'm no longer a green pea fan.

Stupid pea, I'm angry at you. You got stuck into that nostril so darn fast! If it wasn't for eagle-eyes Grandma I might have missed the whole episode but she saw the pea edge its way in and when I turned I could see half the bulge and then SNIFF, you're gone and up his nose!

Time to yelp in paranoid frustration now. Get the Flashlight! Yep, I can see it, can you see it? Oh yes, we can all see it but we can't reach it!

Pinch & pull his nose! Doesn't help. Get the tweezers - but is this safe? Put those tweezers down! Call Telehealth! What's Telehealth I'm asked? Really? Seriously? Just google their number and call!

Some feel that the nose is connected to the throat and therefore, eventually he will swallow it so let's just leave it there. Uh, pardon?

While child is running around happily like his usual 22 month self, Grandma is on the phone with Telehealth and Mama is googling "pea up toddlers nose" and frightening herself with random blogs about nose incidents and various infections... good god, it was just a stupid pea!

Telehealth suggests pinching the clear nostril and blowing into the child's mouth like in mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Mama tries this multiple times and only succeeds in making toddler giggle like crazy and getting no pea.

So, off to the ER we go. We meet the POWER SUCKER. Andrew is still giddy from the Popsicle the nurse gave him, he has no idea what's about to happen.

A long plastic sucking tube is inserted into our restrained child. It takes 2 of us to hold down the 32 pound wrestler while he screams like his arms are being cut off. Power sucker sucks and sucks and sucks for about 15 minutes until Andrew's saucer eyes open even wider and his loud scream becomes louder and OUT comes the pea. It was the fattest pea ever.

Andrew handled the whole thing well, it was Mommy & Daddy who were still shaking on the way home. It was a pea, good god, we'd be lost if it was a broken bone or serious illness.

Also a reminder for us -- get all those mini things away from our curious kid! Past the in-the-mouth stage we've gotten more careless about the roving Polly Pockets shoes, the crafting beads and not watching as carefully when eating (obviously).

Since the weekend I have heard so many stories from momstown friends about other things up noses - stones (ouch), grapes, raisins, doll shoes and such. Apparently, these types of stories go down in family history.

Sorta think every Thanksgiving from here on in, Andrew will get reminded about that Thanksgiving pea. And we will be ever grateful that it was only a pea.

(leave a comment below if you have an up-the-nose story!)