Rites of Passage

So, this morning Caleb approached me with a finger in his nose. He was pretty sad. I said, "Oh, you need a tissue? Here you go!" I got him a tissue and moved on with my life. Then he had a little bloody nose all day.

Phil got home from being on surgery call all night and within minutes said, "Caleb, do you have a bead up your nose?" And he did. A nice turquoise one and it was pretty far up there.

So, no nap for Dr. Dad. Instead, it was time for more surgery. Poor Caleb. We tried for a while to teach him how to blow out of his nose which resulted in a lot of spitting. But he eventually got it! We tried to make him sneeze with nose tickles, etc. We also used a nose-sucker thing, and Phil used his engineering expertise to craft a safe, sturdy hook from common household goods. Elijah felt pretty bad for his little brother and wanted to yell out into the street for helpers. It was sweet. Allison was crying out, too, but I think she was more concered that her adorableness was momentarily being upstaged. Once he held still, and after a little prayer, it came out pretty easily.

So, Caleb is our Rites of Passage kid. Tumbled down full flight of stairs: check. Stitches in face: check. Now, bead up nose: check. Anything else I should expect?