negligent mommy moment

i was making a bean chain for sanaa
– vice spending money on a montessori 100-bead chain
cause i’m supposed to be in save-mode since we’re going to jordan, inshAllah –
and i gave rahmah a couple of pinto beans to play with.

the school of motherhood never ends.

what was i thinking?!
but that’s that 20-20 hindsight
and i’m about 20-200 in my best eye.

anyway, rahmah starts whining
and sticking her finger up her nose…
with only ONE bean in her other hand.

“did you put a bean in your nose, rahmah?” i asked this 21-month old.
more whining and finger in the nose.
my mother-in-law took the time to share a quick antidote
about some baby in the family that had to be taken to the hospital
cause something got stuck in her/his nose and they couldn’t get it out.
dryly: thanks, ma.

i tell rahmah to blow.
she does. good girl.
i flip her back so i can see up her nose
and sure enough a tan and brown colored pinto bean is visible.
i feel the seeds of panic
and see uncomfortable visions of spending time in an atlanta emergency room
for neglectfully letting a small child play with tiny objects.
grrrrr-eat.
but, i think, if the bean is visible it may have a chance of coming out.
and isn’t the nose, throat and mouth all connected anyway?
maybe it’ll just go down her throat.

mother-in-law suggest tweezers.
trying to get tweezers in a little nose around a hard little bean?
i don’t think so, ma.

i tell rahmah to blow again
and flip her to see the progress.
the bean is coming down!
blow, rahmah, blow!
and sure enough
– thankfully –
the snotty bean emerges.

alHamdullilah!