No more playing with beads...

Last night was quite an eventful one. We started the evening with attending Julia's end-of-the-year preschool concert. It was held at Central Valley High School and was quite a big deal. I was so proud of Juju when she went up on stage with her classmates and sang the songs they have been practicing for weeks. She was so animated, knew every word and every hand motion. What a little character! Good thing the lights were dim over the audience, so no one was aware that this blubbering mother had shed a few tears. I guess it just hit me all at once that she is growing up...and way too fast! I can't believe she will start kindergarten this fall! After the kids' performance they had cake and punch in the cafeteria. They also had several booths set up for the kids to play games and win prizes. One of the booths was for making bracelets. Each child was given a baggie of large beads and pipe cleaners...the rest was up to them. This sort of stuff is definitely Julia's cup of tea. She sat there almost the entire time creating her new "jewelry". After the kids were done playing the games, we drove home and settled down for what we all thought would be a nice relaxing night. We were wrong.

The kids were up in Tanner's room watching a movie, I put the baby to bed, and Ron headed out to the gym. The kids continued to play with the beads and created new jewelry items. I curled up on the couch, ready to enjoy some TV shows. After about half an hour of TV, Tanner came down the stairs screaming and holding his nose. I asked him what happened and he said "something up my nose!" I tilted his head back and sure enough I could see the bead. I had him sit on my lap and proceeded to have him blow his nose, over and over. It didn't budge. I tried the nasal aspirator, aka booger bulb, still didn't work. Last resort was the tweezers. I barely got them inside his nose when he pushed me away and started to cry. I realized I wasn't going to get it out and we needed to go to the ER. I called down to the gym to have them page Ron so he could come home. He did immediately and Tanner and I left for the hospital. When we arrived the staff was so good to him and got us in without too much of a wait. The male nurse (who was extremely good looking) took the light and shined it up my little guy's nose. He then said "are you sure there is something up there?" He instantly became unattractive now that he was questioning my intelligence. Ok, so he was still hot and I let him know there was for sure something up there. He left and got a doctor to come in and take a look. All the while Tanner sat on that hospital bed like such a big boy. The doctor came in and asked Tanner what was up his nose. His answer was "a big booger!" The doctor poked around and saw the bead. The next part was the worst. They strapped my sweet boy to the bed and then velcro'd him in, making him look like a human burrito. He looked at me and said "I scared Mom." Oh it broke my heart, but this had to be done. He was such a trooper as the doctor poked and prodded around in his nose. Tears streaming down his face while the nurse held his head still. I stood close, talking to him and assuring him everything was ok. The doctor took a break and had to go get a longer tool to use. Apparently Tanner had it lodged way up there. Again the nurse held Tanner's head and the doctor started really digging for the bead. Tanner was crying so hard and screaming "MOMMY! HELP ME!! IT HURTS!" It was heartbreaking! Tears were streaming down my face and the doctor kept saying 'I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!' I knew Tanner was going to be ok, but he didn't know that. I felt helpless as he stared up at me, not able to move his body, crying out for help and there was nothing I could do. He just looked at me like 'why aren't you stopping them'. Finally the bead was out and they quickly unstrapped Tanner so I could hold him. It took a good 5 minutes for him to calm down and be assured that this ordeal was over. He fell asleep on the way home and slept like a rock that night. This morning when he woke up I noticed that his face was freckled with little purple dots, apparently from crying so hard last night. Poor guy. Hopefully that will be the first and last time for objects up the nose.