4 Popcorn seeds do not belong in the Ear

The past month I have enjoyed swapping children with my sister-in-law Maho. On Tuesday's she watches mine so I can snowboard and on Fridays I watch hers so she can snow ski. It has worked great thanks to other carpool mom's that are cool with dropping our kids off at our opposite houses on the appropriate days. Our kids get along with each other great. Its almost easier to watch all 5 of them than just my 2. Last Friday was the exception to that rule.

The day had been going great. The kids played happily in the basement most of the morning. Lunch was calm and I was cleaning up when I heard someone crying. I didn't think much of it until I realized it was Kai, the oldest. He came out of the room sniffling and then started howling again when I asked what was wrong. With the help of the others I learned that my Allie had shoved a popcorn seed (leftover from our morning snack) down Kai's ear. CRAP!!! Allie denied it, but using a flashlight I was able to see it, WAY down in his ear canal. I hope I looked calmer than I felt. It must worked since Kai settled down. I don't think it was hurting him; he was just scared. Maho was due back in less than a half hour. I was sick about returning her kid in need of a trip to the doctor...on her Birthday no less. UGH!

The last thing I wanted to do was push the seed further in or do damage to the inner ear, but I figured I should make a few attempts to get the seed out. First, I tried spraying water in his ear to flush the seed out. I used a large needle-less syringe, but the seed didn't move. Tweezers were out since it was so snug in the ear tube, but I could see a little space under the seed since the tube wasn't as round as the seed. Kylie was crawling all over me as I attempted a delicate manuver. Carefully I pressed up on the seed from below with a toothpick. PLOP! The seed fell out. WOOAH! What relief for both Kai and I. He was all smiles as we put this prized seed in a zip-lock baggie to take home. Right on cue his mom knocked on the door. I felt silly for 'allowing' it to happen in the first place, but at least we were able to get it out with no harm done.

As for Allie, she lied about her involvement for over 15 minutes despite the other kids tattling on her before she finally fessed up. I think that is what disturbs me the most about the whole incident. And this is far form the first lie we've heard from her. In fact telling the truth has been a daily lesson at our house the past few weeks. If you have any ideas on how to teach your kids not to lie, I'd love to hear. Obviously what we are doing isn't working.