Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Where ReRe's Shouldn't Go

So, Jayla has this thing where she is constantly requesting a snack consisting of "ReRe's and Crackers". The crackers are always whole grain goldfish. No one can figure out why this combination is so appealing to her but, it is her absolute favorite. But, ultimately, we know it will shut her up so, when we get home in the evenings I usually give her a bowl of rere's and she quietly dissappears to the family room to watch Hannah (as in, Montana - as in, her favorite tv show for whatever reason).

In the past few weeks, she has gotten really bad about purposely emptying her bowl onto the floor. It is usually just a few remaining rere's after she has enhaled the crackers (which are soggy from the rere's, which further puzzles those of us who are more discerning with our food choices). It doesn't necessarily mean that she is finished with eating them. She simply doesn't want to see her snack in the bowl any longer. She prefers, instead, to decorate the floor with it.

In turn, her father and I have gotten really, really strict on making her pick up every single bit of her snack whenever she does this. It usually involves alot of painful screaming and crying but, the parents always win this battle. She continues to do it, though, and I can't figure out why she won't just let the rere's stay in the bowl because clearly mommy and daddy don't think they should go on the floor.

Nor should they go in Jayla's nose. In true Jayla fashion, she tested this theory on Saturday night.

We were at a movie in the park. They were playing Cars and it was free. We thought it would be a good opportunity to see how well Jayla would behave in a movie. We brought dinner with us and of course, a bowl of rere's and crackers. Since the movie started late, we managed to finish our dinner of Quizno's sandwiches and chips before it even started.

About mid-way through the movie, Jayla started looking through her bag and saw the bowl. She immediately went into a "rere/cracker" chant. I granted her demand. I even called myself getting ahead of the game by pouring the contents of the bowl into the tray on her stroller (in which she was strapped because otherwise, I would have spent the entire movie chasing her around the park!). I figured there was no additional mischief to be had because I emptied the bowl for her. But, I think she got the last laugh.

I looked at Jayla at one point and she had her index finger halfway up her nose. I initially ignored it and turned back to the movie. But, then I decided that is was disgusting so, I told her to take it out. She complied. Then she tried to take a breath through her nose. She started screaming and grabbed her nose. I immediately thought I knew what had transpired.

I mentioned my theory to my husband (who was utterly engrossed in the movie). He looked at me like, "what?!?" and then said something to the effect of, "why weren't you watching her!?!?". I thought, "When have I ever watched her eat rere's? Hannah watches her eat rere's. Not mama." But, I decided not to actually say that lest it become a discussion while the child still screams violently with every breath she tries to take.

So, my husband tried to reach up her nose to retrieve it, but couldn't. So, he told her to blow her nose. Let me tell ya'll - this is when I realized just how truly truly amazing this child is. She blew like she had never blown before with a force that said she understood just how important the blowing was at that moment. With that blow, my hunch was confirmed, we saw the rere peep out of her nose. She sucked it back in with her next breath. Then daddy said, "Blow hard, Jayla! One more time." She blew her nose with everything she had and the rere shot out and landed on the tray of her stroller.

I threw the remainder of the rere's away. For the first time ever, she didn't object.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rere=Raisin?

Smart girl, though! She could have just freaked out, not listened, and you guys not been able to get it out yourselves!

Crystal said...

Oh my goodnes, what is it with kids and shoving things in their noses? Leon has gotten into that habit REALLY bad in the last week or so. He has shoved corn, pizza, spaghetti, peas, and anything else you can think of to get it out. He does it and then sneezes like crazy until I realize what he has done yet again. The other day I actually had to get TWEEZERS to get the corn out of his nose! I was so grossed out. Now, I have to sit with him every time he can eat anything that will fit in that little bitty nose! He's also shoved paper and something else up there too, but it's not coming to mind right now. I don't get it!