Rocky

What a day! I am currently studying for the California bar exam, so pretty much every day is the same. I go to class, then I come home and study. Usually. Today was a little different.

First, class let out early. Very early. I decided to use the extra time to study so that I would have more family time this evening. Around 1:00 I got a call from my daughter's preschool teacher. She launched into a story about what they had been doing today. They were outside, then they came inside, then the kids laid down to rest, then. . . blah, blah, blah. . . and then my daughter walked over to the teachers and announced that she had a rock in her nose. That's right, a rock. In her nose. Deep inside her tiny, beautiful nose. A ROCK!!!

I was stunned.

It was clear that the teachers had no idea what to do, so I headed over to pick her up. She wasn't bleeding. She didn't seem to be in pain. Her only symptoms were that her voice sounded slightly funny and her nose was bulging a bit. Oh, and when you looked up her nose there sat the rock. (Still stunned, by the way!)

I made one feeble attempt to get it out with tweezers, but this mission was clearly way beyond me. Since she couldn't seem to blow it out, we headed to the doctor's office. My daughter seemed downright excited to visit the doctor. As I checked her in, she hopped about from one toy basket to another in the waiting room. Eventually I warned her to settle down so that she didn't knock the rock any deeper. Then I looked. The bouncing had actually knocked the rock a little lower. I ran for a tissue, and then had my daughter blow her nose as hard as she could. Once, and then again.

Suddenly my daughter took a big breath. Her expression changed. We both looked down, and there in the tissue was a giant black rock. This thing was enormous ~ a mini-boulder of sorts. OK, so really it was about the size of a marble. But it felt enormous in my hand. I remained stunned.

The doctor gave her a quick check and sent us on our way. Since then we've talked about NOT putting rocks, wood chips, bugs, or sticks anywhere they shouldn't go. We've discussed why my daughter decided to try it today. (She says she was playing. Sounds like fun, right?) We've even lectured the cat about why she shouldn't put things in her nose either. Once my hubby got home, he's been referring to our daughter as "Rocky" and humming the Rocky theme song under his breath.

One way or another I think she's gotten the message. And I'm still stunned.