One night in the not so distant past. It was especially dark and stormy. The winds were battering everything in their path. When a hook appeared from behind …. Not really but close…
July 28th, 2015 at 9:12 pm.
Ellie and I were having our before bedtime snacks of whatever we could find. All the good bedtime stuff: M&M’s, string cheese, ham. We were just snacking away enjoying a nice episode of Bob’s Burgers. Everything was going swimmingly as we started into our last snack of string cheese. I was just happy not to be watching another episode of Bubble Guppies.
Ellie was quiet which should have been an All Out Red Flag Alert because that just don't happen. She was sitting at my feet facing her toys eating string cheese. She turned around to me and said “More, More!” I could tell something was off but I just figured she was playing with her nose again. I give her some more cheese. She sits back down and turns away. I look back down and she is hunched over away from me so now I know something is up because that is not her normal snacking stance. Reaching down I turn her around and there I see two nostrils full of string cheese.
First thought was, how can I get string cheese out of her nose and how deep does it go? Second thoughts. Is this an Emergency Room thing or can I do something myself? I don't want to go off and see zuma! again. I prefer just to run into him geocaching or at events.
I know I am not going to get her to blow her nose “that hard” to get it out. I needed tweezers. Not even a geocacher could find those anymore. I already lost both sets of tweezers out of our First Aid kits. What to do? I don’t want to take her to the Emergency Room where in 1 second they are going to pull these out for a $1,000.
No tweezers but better yet my geocaching bag. I grab her and hold her arms down to stop her from tamping the cheese in tighter. Carry her outside to grab my geocaching bag. Ellie looks up and goes “MOON”! I reply “Yes Ellie that is the moon.” I grab my bag and now she is starting to get feisty as we head back in because I won’t let her touch her face.
A reinforcing realization enters my mind. How can I take her to the Emergency Room? She will be strapped into the back seat alone meaning she will have string cheese on her brain by the time we get there.
We get inside and sit down on the couch. I unzip my pouches and grab the forceps. I don’t know if this is common knowledge or not but squeezing forceps on string cheese is a nonstarter. You can’t grab string cheese with forceps.
Ellie is now full out unhappy. I tell her you can’t move. I don't want to hurt you. You have to stop moving so I can do this. I knew this was not going to get better so I went to work. Pushing the forceps side to side on the exposed part of the packed cheese ball. I gradually got it loosened and out. I reach into my pouch and pull out my flashlight to have a gander up her nose. Oh man! Another one in deeper. I can't risk actually reaching into her nose.
I look at her and ask her if she can blow her nose? No response. Expected considering we are not really friends right now, but was worth a shot. I think a second. Can I just slide my finger down the side of her nose? The cheese must go down not up right? Decision is to go for it. I have to try sliding it out because I know you can't reach anything into her nose. The cheese would only get pushed up further. Plus her little baby brains and stuff are up there. I’m pretty sure you don't want to poke them.
I slide my finger down the side of her nose and the cheese ball slides right to the end so I could wiggle it out. Easy peasy.
Left Side
I am now considered to be a String Cheese Embedded Nose Expert (aka scene). With one under my belt I get started on the other. I work the first packed cheese ball out with much more ease and then finger slide out not one but two more. I hope that doesn't mean she is going to be left handed? Finger Slide is also the official term for removing string cheese from a nose.
Aftermath
It was pretty funny because that was pretty much it. Just like a switch was hit. She was happy. I was happy. I asked her to blow her nose and a little puff of air came out. All was right in the world again.
