Rock-n-Roll

The playground at the Primary School is filled with tiny river rock. These rocks are bigger than sand, but not by much. And, so, inevitably, Cole comes home with rocks in his shoes. Every day. And, from what I have been able to get out of him, he actually LIKES the rocks in his shoes.

When he comes home from school, I generally make him take his shoes off. And, out pour the rocks onto my kitchen floor. So, most days, I scoop them up and toss out out the door (amidst the screams of protest from inside the house!)

So, tonight after school, he had taken his shoes off and was lying on the couch catching an episode of Spongebob while I was cooking dinner. After I put it in the oven, I came over to the couch to sit with him. And, all of the sudden, he started sneezing. Not just once....but continuously. Over and over he sneezed and, all at once, he jumped up and started toward the bathroom. And, that's when I heard it....the sound of those tiny rocks hitting the floor...

Mom: Cole, what was that?
Cole: Nothing! Just a rock.
Mom: Why do you have a rock? And, why are you sneezing so much?
Cole: Well....I was playing with the rock by my nose and it just fell in.
Mom: Did you stick that rock in your NOSE?
Cole: No...it just fell in!

Yeah, I don't know how many times that has happened to me when a rock just somehow FALLS into my nose! Aren't boys fun? And, so....we had to have the talk about not putting things into your ears, nose, or mouth for that matter. And, when nothing seemed to be getting his attention, I think he got the message when I told him if that rock would have gotten stuck in his nose, we would have had to go the ER and the doctor would cut it out with a knife.

So, I think at least for now, he will be content to just stick the rocks in his shoes!