The other day Joy, age six, came pounding down the stairs during quiet time. She was wailing and flailing, but that is the usual drama we see several times a day.
“Joy, you are not supposed to be out of your room at quiet time.”
More wailing. More flailing.
“What is the matter?”
Finally managing to find some words, she cried, “I lost my jewel!”
I got up and took her hand and led her back to her room. She continued the drama so I sat on her bed and put her in my lap.
“Listen, I understand that you lost your jewel and that is very sad, but that is not a reason to come out of your room. Did you look for it? Maybe we’ll find it later laying on the carpet.”
She started wailing with renewed gusto. “You don’t understand!”
“Honey, you lost your jewel. It’s not that big of a deal. What am I missing?”
“I lost it in my noooooooose!” she finally wailed.
“Whaaaaaat?” I asked not wanting to believe it.
“It’s in my nose, and it won’t come out.”
Well poor little thing was so distraught, but in true Esther fashion I fell over on her bed I was laughing so hard.
I tried to get her to blow it out. Then finally I told her not to worry about it to go back to her quiet time. I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal.
That evening, however, Jason, realizing the potential danger, took her to the ER, and they were able to get the plastic bead out without much trouble. In the meantime, I had read horror stories online about what can happen when a foreign object lodged in the nose can’t be removed easily.
When we got home, I asked Joy if she was ever going to stick something up her nose again. “No!” she almost shouted. “I don’t like the hospital!” She would know. This was her third trip to the ER in three years!

LAUGH OUT LOUD!!! Poor girl. Too funny!
My brother stuck a piece of hard corn up his nose as a kid! Can you guess which brother that was?!!
Poor baby.
My youngest stuck an M&M up her nose, so we melted it with warm water in the tub. Slid right out.
Oh yes…I remember those days well. My son put a bean in his nose, and ate marbles. Geesh….
Poor thing! I’m sure a similar scenario is not too far in my future as well:)
Wow! I would have been trying to get it out and then taking her to ER as soon as I could if it wouldn’t budge! Thank goodness your husband did that.
I think one of my children did something like that once but whatever it was came out just fine and there was no great alarm. (Obviously, or I would be able to recall the details.) whew! Lots of memories are being made there, Esther. 🙂
first time @ ur blog.. love it and ur kids are cute… my 5 yr old did the same when she was 4 yr.. she wanted to see how far she can push a small plastic ball up her nose…thankfully after an hour of trying various things like blowing a balloon she successfully blew it out like a cannon ball…she never experiments again with her nose…
This was so funny…but not, at the same time!
Just stumbled on your blog. Love your name 🙂
That’s what kids do. It must look like a good place to keep things! My son did that when he was a child, but he stuck a tinker toy up his nose. What a nightmare that was!
Yikes! We are not at that stage yet!
My friend is an ER nurse and she was joking one time about the endless things kids put in their nose. jewelry parts were a biggie!
Oh my! I’m nervous about stuff like this happening to my little one. He is so inquisitive and while nothing has gone up his nose yet, I’m expecting the surprise in the near future. What a funny story though!
I’m a new follower (found your blog on blog frog) and would love if you’d stop by mine! 🙂
~Paris
I am glad she is okay. It sounds like she learned not to do that again.
This reminds me of the time I stuck a pea up my nose. The embarrassing part is I was honestly old enough to know better, and I was just doing it to see if I could sniff it in and out of my nostril really quickly. Man, talk about blowing a nose like I’ve never blown before. I’m glad that you all were able to remove it!
How scary that must have been for her and for you. Glad you can laugh about it now. This will be one of those stories you will tell and retell. 🙂
I actually recently saw a way to get that out at home (without a vacuum). . . I’ve been trying to remember exactly how; if it comes to me, I’ll let you know! That’s happened several times at our house over the years, but we’ve always pinned the child down and used tweezers. It was never up so high that we had to go to the ER.
I seem to have vague memories of one of my daughters pushing bean up her nose, but luckily it didn’t go so far that we couldn’t retrieve it. What possesses kids to do this is beyond me. But, wait…the jewel up her nose may be the least of her offenses as she grows into her teen years. That’s when the ‘real’ drama begins! =D
Googled it to refresh my memory. . . Pinch off the clear nostril and blow a quick puff of air into the child’s mouth. The burst of air will usually clear the blocked nostril. Wish we’d known about this trick years ago. It seems much less traumatic than trying to hold them still and use tweezers or forceps!
Poor Baby! It must have been scary for her. Mom, keeping your cool was good, because I would think that if she saw you get frantic it would nave made her more scared. I would have freaked out. I don’t remember my ex-stepson ever doing anything like that, but he did fall head over heels off a skate board and messed up his forehead. I rushed him to the hospital where they kept him overnight for observation. (He had a black knot on his forehead with a puncture wound, and they were afraid he might hemmorage inside since he wasn’t bleeding outwardly. I stayed with him all night.
God Bless!
PJ
We had a similar incident with my third, she stuck a small seashell in her ear! After the trip to the ER, she said she would never do that again. We joke that he did it because she wanted to hear the ocean!! Kids!
I have yet to experience this but I am glad for the tip. Wow!
What’s funny is I work in an urgent care pediatric after hours clinic. We see things like this all the time. We once had a kid come in who could quite literally whistle by exhaling through his nose. Glad you got it taken care of!
oh my goodness. I got a rock stuck up on my nose when I was 4. The more I tried to get it out, the further up it went. Thankfully my nose started bleeding because I tried to be nonchalant and discreet about it. But the blood gave me away.
Violet did the same exact thing about a year ago! She put a craft bead up her nose and I had to take her to the ER. Even the doctor really struggled to get it out and I was getting concerned. I know she’ll never try that one again! 🙂
My daughter put a pea-sized plastic ball up her nose today and I googled it to see what I could do. It took me to this blog and I tried Carly K’s trick of blowing air in her mouth while I pinched the unobstructed size. IT WORKED!!! So thanks! You saved me a trip to the ER today. 🙂
When I was in 2nd grade my older brother and I taught my younger brother to put candy corns in his mouth like fangs, and in his nose like funny pointy things…only after we went to school, he pushed one candy corn so high up this nose cannel, mom had to take him to the doctor and had to get it flushed out with a water hose. Oops, we weren’t very good role models.
New GFC Follower, hopping over from Blog Frog! I think that’s a childhood right of passage of some sort, most kids seem to do it! I’m just glad everything turned out OK!
Tracy @ Ascending Butterfly
Oh man! I thought this was going to be a post about something entirely different! Glad it was just a plastic bead!
You crack me up.