Numero Tres

Cora and I were sharing a snack of almonds. It was around 4:30 which is around the time I start getting dinner ready. I left her on the couch with the rest of our snack. Magnolia was rolling around on the rug playing with her toys. I'd been in the kitchen for less than a minute when coughing erupted from the living room. It was Cora. She was holding her water. It's not an uncommon thing for her to choke on water. I continued on looking at the recipe and gathering ingredients. She continued coughing, and then the sneezes came.

"Cora, did you put something up your nose?"

"What'd you did say, Mama?"

"Did you put an almond up your nose?"

"Yes."

I looked. One nostril is full of almond pieces. And lots of snot and eye water are dripping down her face. I ran for the tweezers. They were my go-to for the rubber bands she liked to inhale. There wasn't enough room to get on either side of the pieces. I sent Jake a text. He called me and came home from work. He drove the car today because of the rain, so I was glad he was at a point where he could pick up and leave.

After a few failed attempts, and a worked up child, we headed for the ER. We were lucky enough to be in a room that OCU's art students had painted for a competition. It was fitting. After the inspection, the doctor was on her way to get a team and some tools for almond removal. She came back a few minutes later with another doctor and told us she'd forgotten about a certain trick that works almost all the time in dislodging foreign objects in the nasal cavity.

One of us would plug her good nostril, and the other one would cover her whole mouth with their mouth and blow. The air would force the blockage out. Jake was the plugger, and I ended up with snot on my face. After several tries, an interruption from the lady who gets all of the information, and a semi-traumatized three-year-old, we got it. Though it didn't pop right out. The pieces separated enough to come down her nose to the point where we could grab one at a time. I was impressed she got them both up there.

(On a penny.)

(You can't get a good height perception from the picture, but the almonds are as tall as six pennies.)

After an orange popcicle and discharge papers, we went to the Wedge in Deep Deuce for a vegan pizza. We're now home, both girls are in bed, our minds are armed with a fabulous dislodging technique, and I'm sitting next to two exciting almond halves.

PS: This is the third time Cora has been to the ER. Once when she was thirteen months old for possible straight pin, the second was on Christmas day just before her second birthday when we thought her foot might be broken, and now today. Maybe Magnolia will be adventurous in different ways...

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