The Bead

At 6pm last night, my 5-year-old tells me, "I stuck a bead in my ear at nap time."

"Why?"

"It was pretty and I wanted to save it for you and I didn't have any pockets and I couldn't get up because it was nap time!"

A few minutes later, there was a tearful moan from the back seat, "Mommy!  I am so embarrassed because I really think that I probably know better!"

Our walk-in clinic was closed by then, and I really didn't want to drag my kids all the way to the ER on a night my husband was working late.  I started to feel my head spinning, then I automatically took a deep breath and assessed my options.  There was a lot of beauty that came flooding into my consciousness.

Beauty:  My cousin is an Otorhinolaryngologist (ear/nose/throat doc) and ALWAYS replies to my texts (Love that guy!).  From stories I've heard, he has removed some pretty incredible things from little ears and noses (and a few big ones as well).  He said it is not an emergency.

Beauty:  The bead looked huge and pretty deep, but she was feeling no pain.  She would say it just felt like a bead rolling around in her head.

Beauty:  This is a moment for her to learn from her own actions.  If my daughter spends a day with weird feelings in her ear and then an afternoon with a nurse digging around in her ear canal...she will learn the lesson better than any scolding or overreacting I may do.

I didn't overreact!  I am gaining ground!  I breathed a bit, asked her why, then empathized.  I tried mild efforts to dig it out with no results, so I told her she just had to wait until the clinic opened the next day.  My inner-adult prevailed!  Success!

I am finding more and more that I am not genuinely a freak-out mom.  The bead won't be causing any major diseases any time soon.  This morning I sent her to school like always, and I told the teacher just in case my daughter mentioned something about it.  The teacher got this horrified look on her face, like she thought I was insane for sending her to school with a bead in her ear rather than rushing to the ER, and proceeded to scold me about ear infections.  I thanked her and left.

We were in and out of the clinic in no time this afternoon.  The longest part of the procedure was waiting to be taken back to a room.  Once we were in, the PA-C got it over and done with in no time flat with a tiny little pink plastic crochet hook.  Over-all, it happened in the best possible way.  I even remembered to bring a box of Craisins for the 3-year-old to occupy himself with during his sister's procedure.

The benefits of choosing to breathe deeply as a habit made themselves known over the past 24 hours.  I was not tempted to freak out, when in the past I would have scolded and been upset.  I am finding and enjoying my inner-adult, one kicking and screaming inner-child moment at a time.

I deserve BEAUTY in my life!