My 4 year old can't figure out how to blow his nose - and he's a little stuffy right now. I can hear it in his voice, and even worse, I can see the little bits "nasal debris" chillin' right up there in his nose. The problem is we can't figure out how to get them out.
So - I decided to get a small pair of tweezers - (something the Academy of Pediatrics has no doubt written about -- probably something about keeping small sharp objects out of our bodies). I convinced him to let me hover over him trying to get the nasal debris (a.k.a. boogs) out of his nose. I was not successful nor could I convince him to let me give it a round 4 try. I tried to bribe him - but to no avail he ran away.
I can't explain how bad I wanted to succeed -- in some morbid way, the way my dad loved pulling teeth out. And I was reduced to shoving tiny tweezers up my sons nose to do it. I took a minute and stepped back from the situation and realized that I'd probably turned into the mom my 16 year old self would be ashamed of - the mom that could find that much joy cleaning out my childs nose . . .
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