Buggies

I think that definitely my favorite recent mommy moment happened on Friday evening.

Ivan's nose has been slighly snotty over the last few days with an ocassional rivulet of clear snot protruding from his right nostril. Not the most appealing sight, but still definitely far from the excessively and continuously snotty noses many other toddlers are accessorized with year round. This used to gross me out before I had kids, and still continues to gross me out today. (Snotty noses are right up there with sticky hands and food smeared mounths.)

Eventually, the snot in question coagulated into a buggy which I could see in his nose. I tried all day Friday to get him to blow his nose, which he adamantly refused to do.

He was trying to pick the nose himself to get the buggy out. (This is something new he's been doing for the last few weeks. And when he succeeds, he triumphantly hands me the buggy. "Buggy, mama.")

But the Friday buggy was unpickable. So I attempted to pick the buggy out of his nose. It became my obession for the day. "No touc ma buggy," was the response I got every time.

This futile buggy picking went on the entire day.

That evening we went out to eat to a local Thai restaurant. The small, narrow, mom and pop restaurant was packed. The crowd was probably heavier than usual because the place had just been named the best Thai food in town.

Also, it was a bit later in the evening than would have been optimal for taking Ivan out to eat, but we hedged our bets. He was more or less cooperative, not on his best behavior but definitely far from a full tempter tantrum.

And then Ivan decided to get the buggy out. With no success.

"Ma buggy, mama, my buggy mama."

He wanted my help.

By now, the thing was humungous and crusty and well implanted in his nostril. But I was thrilled to finally be able to get this buggy picking mission accomplished.

So, in the middle of this small packed restaurant with people enjoying their Friday evening dinner, here's a mom picking her toddler's nose.

I tried being discreet, shielding his face and nose with my body and one hand, while doing the picking with the other.

It wasn't a smooth operation. The buggy was huge and well encrusted.

It took me a few tries to get a good grip on it to yank it out of Ivan's nose. It must have hurt as he got vocal about it, which probably attracted additional unwanted eyes to us.

But finally the mission was accomplished. The buggy was out and Ivan's nose was clear. And it a few Friday night dinners got spoiled in the meantime, oh well.