"A pea is in my nose"

My oldest son who is not quite 3 is an excruciatingly slow eater.  He can easily sit at the table for an hour every meal if we let him.  And it's not that he doesn't eat his veggies.  In fact he is very good at eating his veggies he often will have two servings before he eats anything else.  He is simply slow.  Well, he also plays with his food.  I've watched him methodically dip his tator tots in ketchup and line them up as though it was a train.  He's also created a "nest" out of spaghetti noodles and green beans when we've had guests over.  He likes to stack food, smash food, mix food together and anything else messy.  I probably need to crack down on this a little, but it hasn't been a top priority.  Because he takes so long at the table I usually am washing dishes and cleaning up while he is finishing.  So I don't always have my eyes on him.

Tonight as I was finishing cleaning up he started fussing and said "pea, pea".  I thought he was telling me he had to go to the bathroom.  He said "NO a pea is in my nose!"  Not taking him too seriously, I looked, no there is no pea.  He insisted there was.  So I got a flash light and tilted his head back.  And upon further inspection there indeed was a pea jammed way back.  My first thought was of course, medic hubby just left for work.  These things ALWAYS happen when he is not home.  Luckily, it was easily remedied.  I held his one nose hole shut and told him to blow as hard as he could.  And sure enough that pea came shooting out like a cannon ball out of a cannon!

This was the first of sticking foreign objects up our nose.  I later told him we do not stick peas up our nose.  After he repeated "Do not stick peas in your nose".  He laughed and said "That was funny".  Sigh...I am in for a long road ahead with these two boys. 

People often say to me "Oh it must be so nice having a paramedic for a husband".  It is I guess, the thing is everything always happens when he is not home!  I don't know how many times I have called him with bleeding and bump questions.  He usually says "How come this stuff never happens while I'm there?"  My reply is always "That's what I would like to know".

So why is this.  I was thinking about this.  Is it murphy's law?  Sometimes I feel like he is implying that I am not careful enough.  But, I was thinking about this tonight.  The chances are of course much greater that they will happen when I am here and he is not.  I mean in an average week I spend probably a total of 6-8 hours away from my children.  Medic hubby on the other hand is usually gone  60 plus hours.  Okay, so it is only natural that more is going to happen when they are with me.

I feel so unprepared for mothering two boys.  I had no brothers and really know nothing about boys.  But I have been doing my homework watching, reading and interacting.  I am slowly figuring them out.  And these two little mischievous, energy filled boys have won my heart.  Some days we have wild fun play days, where it literally looks like a tornado spun through my house till the end of the day.  But after they are tucked snug in there beds and I sink in to the sofa I am thankful for the gift of mothering these two boys.