M&Ms: An Irresistable Chocolate Product That's Not Always Fun

I don't know what I'd do if I weren't married to my husband. Whenever there is a medical emergency in our house, I have a tendency to freak out. If blood is involved, I fall to pieces -- My typical first response being to close my eyes, flap my arms, and squeak a lot. Fortunately, during medical school and residency, my husband was exposed to so much blood, pus, and other general yuckiness that very little fazes him.

Today, I'm feeling particularly grateful for my husband's general calm during a medical crisis because as I was rolling out biscuits for dinner, our five-year-old flew into the kitchen screaming and crying. He wailed, "I need H-E-E-E-E-E-LP! An M&M is stuck IN MY NOSE!!!"

So after a couple useless laps and some arm flapping about the kitchen, I came to my senses and whisked our sobbing son down to the basement to see his very capable Daddy.

When we entered my husband's office, he threw me a questioning look. I simply said, "He shoved a green M&M up his nose."

As I was speaking the words, I heard them, and they struck me as ridiculously absurd. In spite of my anxiety, I laughed. But I sometimes worry that he'll find himself in much worse scrapes when he's older -- and maybe driving and hanging out with girls. Unlike his older brother who doesn't need to get burned to know that fire is hot, my younger son has to push and test and try everything out for himself. Today was no exception. Even though I'd caught him sticking candy in his nose earlier in the day and had told him to stop, he obviously had kept at it until he got hurt. But that's him. 

I guess that there are two lessons for me here.

1. I need to make sure Booger Boy (hence the green M&Ms) knows right from wrong. Then I have to just trust God to take care of the rest. 
2. I hope that my boy will always remember that he can come home when he's in trouble. I might give him the tongue-lashing of his life, but I'll also hold him and wipe his tears.

By the way, in case you're wondering, the situation resolved itself. It turns out that M&Ms don't melt in just your mouth. Additionally, some warm water squirted up the nose can assist the liquefaction of said confection. Mr. Nosey also got a lecture on the importance of not sticking anything into any of his various orifices. I'm 55% sure he won't do it again.