Tale of the Raisin and Max's Nose

Just as any "good parenting story" begins... I only turned my back for a minute. Max was eating a healthy snack of organic raisins. What could possibly go wrong?

I found him making a strange face, pawing a bit at his left nostril and trying to clear his throat. I asked him if he put a raisin up his nose, and he gave an unusual answer: "yes". Alex and I tried to get him to blow his nose, hoping he could just blow it out, but he doesn't quite have that skill down yet. The bulb syringe from his infancy proved useless as well.

Being modern parents, we promptly looked up "raisin up the nose" online. We found a few suggestions but mostly the final answer that it would likely require a trip to the ER. Next I called the after hours line for his pediatrician's office, and it was confirmed that we had already tried everything and if he couldn't blow it out, we would probably need to go to an urgent care center. I'm a little paranoid about being pregnant and the H1N1 virus out there, so the idea of going to the Dell Childrens' ER was not too appealing. But an urgent care center seemed a little better (although realistically probably not that different, risk-wise).

So I called the Bee Caves Urgent Care Center, which was open late and accepts our insurance, and confirmed that they were comfortable treating children. After a nice scenic drive, we arrived and began the lengthy admission process. We noticed a sign about flu shots and decided to get Alex immunized while we were there.

Max was happy, running around and having a great time in the empty waiting room. I gave him his sippy cup and he went to town drinking his "awah" (agua/water). While we were staring at each other (he's so cute when he sucks on his straw), he pulled the sippy cup away and OUT FLEW THE RAISIN! Just slid right out of his nose and onto the floor. Phew! The receptionist promptly put our admission paperwork in the shredder, but we decided to stay long enough for Alex to get a flu shot.

We treated ourselves to some yummy pizza slices from Tony C's in the Hill Country Galleria and enjoyed the wonderfully comfortable weather. It was a nice way to wrap up the unexpectedly chaotic evening!