The difference between a new mom...

...and a tired, uh I mean experienced, mom is the ability to remain calm.

When John-Paul was about 20 months old, he was eating some Kix cereal, and shoved one Kix up his nose. I completely freaked out, ran to get the tweezers (because I could see it stuck up there), and tried to pull it out. However, I wasn't able to grasp it, and as my heart was racing, I finally realized that if I held a tissue to his nose, he would blow. Sure enough, he blew and out flew the now non-edible Kix.

Fast forward to 4 years and 2 kids later. Eamon (21 months) was eating his "mix" which is just some cheerios and raisins in a bowl, while I was making muffins. He started whining, and saying "Nose, Mama, nose" and I went over to see what was wrong. I looked in, assuming he had a boogie, but I didn't see anything and went back to muffin making. A few seconds later came the same plea, this time a little whinier and louder, "Nose, please Mama, nose". This time I went over and he was sticking his finger into his left nostril, which is unfortunately a common sight around here. It dawned on me that he was eating nose-sized food, and so I held his right nostril and told him to blow. He did, and nothing came out. So I told him to try again, and this time some brown liquid came out. Eewww! One more blow and I could see the misplaced raisin, and the final blow had it in my hand (yes, I disinfected).

After the raisin came out, I realized I hadn't been nervous at all, I didn't make a scene, and nobody got upset. I told Eamon that food was for mouths and not for noses, and that was the end of that. Hmmmmm, seems like this parenting thing does get easier with time and experience, good thing too because it couldn't get much harder, um, I mean, challenging, er, what I mean to say is FUN!