Not for the squeamish

Most likely if you are reading this you are familiar with my previous blog, My life as a stay at home dad.  If you are not, I have 4 children.  Zach, 8, Zane and Zoe, 3 year old twins, and Zadie, 1.  Zane tends to be my wild card as you can read in, My Wonderful Nemesis, The Zane-Meister, among others.  Here is a story from Zane that happened recently.  I hope that you enjoy.

Our church, now that it is coming on winter, has popcorn and hot chocolate available after each service.  As we were settling into the car I saw in the rear-view mirror a small white piece of popcorn perched at the base of Zane's right nostril.  Being the diligent and attentive father that I am, I asked, "Zane, what is that in your nose."  This of course caused him to instantly inhale deeply through his nose, causing said popcorn to disappear from sight.  Again, playing the role of diligent and attentive father, I thought, "what harm could it do," and I started the trek down the road toward home.  About five minutes into the ride home I heard a big sneeze from the rear of the car.  I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw a large amount of snot running down Zane's upper lip (I warned you, it was not for the squeamish).  I thought in my head, "well at least it probably got the popcorn kernel out."  This was confirmed when Zach piped up from the back that, "Dad, I see the popcorn kernel.  It came out when he sneezed."

He followed this up later in the day by sticking a piece of pretzel chip into the same nostril and extracting it in much the same way.

I look back on this experience and I laugh (and I hope you do too).  But it amazes me when I think back to the actual moment of it happening and thinking how commonplace and ordinary of an experience it seemed to be.  I think that is part of the joy of having multiple kids.  A family with a single child may have headed to the urgent care or emergency room if there was a popcorn kernel lodged in their nostril.  Families with multiples say, "Oh I am sure he will be fine, thats why God gave us two nostrils."