The Candy Crisis

Today started out like any other Sunday. I was busy getting the girls dressed for church and making sure that we all arrived on time. We had a great day and after the service was over, Mark had to be in a meeting for about 20-30 minutes right after church. I rounded up all three girls and Natalie and Elyssa made their usual run to Mark's office to get their favorite thing in the whole world ... a pack of Smarties candy.

Someone helped me put them all of the girls in the van so we could go grab something quick for lunch while we waited on Mark to finish his meeting. Elyssa and Natalie always like to eat their Smarties right when they get into the van, which doesn't seem to affect their appetite for lunch, thank goodness! They both did their usual unrolling of their little round candies and began to eat them. I had started pulling the van out of the church parking lot and was in the exit lane at this point. I could see Natalie sitting in the back seat of the van through my rear-view-mirror. I was talking to both girls when I noticed, all of the sudden, that Natalie was not eating a piece of her candy. No! She was stuffing it into the opening of her nose! It all seemed to happen in slow motion. If you can imagine me screaming louder and louder ... "No, no, no, no, no ...!" I felt like I said "no" a million times, but to no avail. She proceeded to take her pointing finger on her right hand and continue to stuff the Smartie the rest of the way up her right nostril. I was horrified! I couldn't believe what I had just seen. I thought to myself, "What child in their right mind would stuff something up their nose???" Then, of course, I remembered that kids do this kind of thing all the time. I have no idea why, but they do.

My traffic light had turned green at this point, and I had to go since there were cars behind me. I pulled right into the Shell station that was next to the church exit. I quickly unbuckled my seat belt and made my way to the back of the van. Natalie's right eye had begun to water profusely and she was sneezing over and over again now. I finally reached her and looked up her right nostril. I could see the Smartie sitting vertically at the back of her nose, but there was no way I could reach it. I wasn't even sure that I could reach it if I had tweezers. I called Mark in a panic and thankfully, his meeting had not started yet. He couldn't believe what I was telling him, but had to keep his calm for the next 20 minutes to get through his presentation. He did ask me if Natalie could breathe and if she was acting okay. I told him that she was. He told me to go ahead and get the girls something to eat and then he would be done with his meeting quickly to help.

We rode to McDonald's to get hamburgers through the drive-through and then headed back to the church. I was still in a panic and couldn't stand the thought of Natalie having candy stuck in her nose!! I kept telling her to not touch her nose anymore. I didn't want her to shove it up her nose any further.

When we arrived back at the church, I tried to have her blow her nose. She did blow her nose and some orange mucus came out, but no candy. It had already begun dissolving. I could still see the candy when she began blowing, but then after she blew her nose, she took a deep breath in and sucked the candy on up into her sinus cavity. It was no longer visible and I was really grossed out then! Now, she had the crazy candy stuck IN HER FACE!!! How horrible was that??

Mark finally came out of his meeting and I told him everything that had happened. He, of course, couldn't see the candy either. He sat in the back of the van by Natalie on the way home to try to comfort her in this terribly weird situation. I had put a call into the pediatrician's office and they let me know to put saline drops into her nose. They said the candy would eventually dissolve and she should be okay. They told me to look out for her running a fever or anything unusual in her behavior.

We assume at this point that the candy has dissolved. Natalie never developed a fever and she has acted fine. I told Mark that at least while the candy was stuck in her face that she probably had a nice orange flavor constantly dripping into her throat. I guess you have to find the positives in situations like this, huh?

Here is a funny video that I took of Natalie the day she shoved the Smartie in her nose.