In my continuing effort to multitask like a mofo and get both kids fed, bathed and asleep by 7pm (Zachary) and 8pm (Milo), I let Milo eat dinner in his chair while watching tv (quality parenting since 2010, y’all) while I gave Z a bath. Milo was eating one of his three staple dinners, that pasta plus stuff with butter, peas, corn and carrots. (I am so sick of cooking pasta at this point, it’s starting to make me kind of nauseous to smell it.) He was pretty enraptured with some train yard documentary-type show I found on Netflix, but nonetheless managing to polish off his supper at a good clip. It seemed safe to take Z into the bathroom.

I gave Zachary his bath, poking my head out into the living room every few minutes to make sure Milo was still eating. We finished the bath, I got the baby dressed, and went back into the living room for one last status check before I took Z into my room to nurse. I asked Milo if he needed anything else to eat or drink. He looked up at me. “Mama, mama,” he said, then scrunched up his face at me. “What’s that mean,” I asked, “do you need anything else before I put Zacky to bed?” “Mama, mama,” he repeated. “WHAT, Milo? C’mon, I need to put Zachary down.” “Mama, I have pea in my nose,” he told me, scrunching up his face again. “What?! Are you sure? How did that happen?” I asked. He looked at me like I was a simpleton. “Miyo put it dere, mommy.”  I sighed.

After some coaxing and strategic blowing, he sneezed out both a pea and a corn kernel coated in nasal mucous into my hand. “There it is!” he announced triumphantly, “a pea!”

October 2, 2012. The first of many times (I’m sure) over the next few years that my kid will stick something up his nose on purpose. At least we got a soft opening on this milestone, no need for a trip to the ER to extract a marble or a board game piece.

The suspense continues…when will we take our first trip to the ER? What will necessitate it? Stay tuned…