Tic-Tacs: The Untold Story
How to tell this story...Hm.
Like this: Lucy pushed a cherry tic-tac up her nose on Sunday. It got stuck. She appeared in the kitchen with a red streak across her upper lip, her little hands flying around her face, wailing in panic, "Mommmmmy!" I thought she had a bloody nose and said, "Oh Lulu, it's o..."
Wait a second, that's not blood!! It's melting FD&C Red #17! "Is that a Tic-Tac?? In your nose?" More wailing. "Sit down. Calm down." Squeeze. Squeeze. POP! "Lulu. We don't put tic-tacs in our noses. We put them in our mouths," I said kindly. Snuffle, snuffle. "Why did you do that?" Snuffle, snuffle. "Did you want to see if it could fit?"
"Don't tell the doctor!" she cried.
We sat for a few minutes on the kitchen floor. One of us shaking in relief, or perhaps fear, as in, "Now I'll never get into the gifted program!" The other of us shaking with suppressed giggles. "All right, that's enough of that," I said. "Would you like some ice cream? Mommy got you a special Cherry Garcia cup at the store. You can have it now...
"Oh-oh-oh-kay..."
"If you promise not to stick it up your nose."
Like this: Lucy pushed a cherry tic-tac up her nose on Sunday. It got stuck. She appeared in the kitchen with a red streak across her upper lip, her little hands flying around her face, wailing in panic, "Mommmmmy!" I thought she had a bloody nose and said, "Oh Lulu, it's o..."
Wait a second, that's not blood!! It's melting FD&C Red #17! "Is that a Tic-Tac?? In your nose?" More wailing. "Sit down. Calm down." Squeeze. Squeeze. POP! "Lulu. We don't put tic-tacs in our noses. We put them in our mouths," I said kindly. Snuffle, snuffle. "Why did you do that?" Snuffle, snuffle. "Did you want to see if it could fit?"
"Don't tell the doctor!" she cried.
We sat for a few minutes on the kitchen floor. One of us shaking in relief, or perhaps fear, as in, "Now I'll never get into the gifted program!" The other of us shaking with suppressed giggles. "All right, that's enough of that," I said. "Would you like some ice cream? Mommy got you a special Cherry Garcia cup at the store. You can have it now...
"Oh-oh-oh-kay..."
"If you promise not to stick it up your nose."
posted by Mary Ellen at
5:49 AM
2 Comments:
My friend the pediatrician says this happens all the time. He tells of dealing with panicked mothers who cannot believe the stuff kids put up their noses, including erasers, cheerios, and stuffing from one beat up sofa. Apparently the kid said he was "saving it for later, for a snack."
When I was about 12 or 13 I took a medicine bottle with Tic-Tacs in it to school and pretended they were birth control. My friends were soooo impressed. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that Tic-Tacs are a gateway drug...to general silliness.
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