Matthew, what are you going to be when you grow up?

"An engineer, because I can make anything. Right Mom?"

"Right on, kiddo."

As you can see the tinkertoy arrows are in hand and the armor has offiically been constructed. Without any help from his mother Matthew has created a masterpiece of defense.

It works a little better if you keep your arms down.

In the past month my little engineer has explored every orifice on his noggin. Let me explain.

Nose: (Upon Mom's inquiry as to why his finger was so far in his nose.)

"Mom, I was just curious to see if it would fit."

"Did you put something in your nose buddy?"

"Ya, I was curious if my gum would fit in my nose."

"Do want some help getting it out?"

"Ya, its stuck."

So mom gets a flashlight and sees what looks to be a speck of blue way up in the nostril. With a pair of hemostats mom was able to extract a 3 inch long rolled wad of gum. Yes it fits and no we don't put things in our nose. Check.

Ear: (Reading stories with mom in the big brown chair last Sunday afternoon.)

"Mom, I think I have a fly in my ear."

"Really, I don't think flies fly into our ears very often. Is your ear owie? Is there something in it that is hurting?"

"Ya."

So mom pulls out the flashlight again and sees what looks like wax. So... mom squirts warm water in the ear to flush it out but it is not flushing. Post flush -

"Mom, I think I may have put something in my ear."

"Matthew, do you remember what you put in your ear?"

"Ya, I think it was a rock."

"Do you know where you got the rock?"

"Ya, I found it during primary and stuck it in my ear while we were singing."

"Matthew, we don't stick things in our ears."

So at Andrew's 18 month check up the next morning we ask Dr. Miller if she thinks she can get the rock out. She takes a look and believes she can get it. When she leaves the room to get a water squirting machine -

"Mom, I think I am getting really nervous about this."

"Good. We don't stick things in our ears."

Dr. Miller had just the squirting tool to get the rock out. Upon assessment we discover the rock was actually in fact just a hard dirt clod. Don't worry mom, it would have come out eventually. Check.

Throat: (Upon hearing gagging and choking noises upstairs Mom runs up to meet Matthew on the stairs running down. Tear in his eyes and pain on his face...)

"Matthew, are you choking, are you okay?"

"Ya, Mom but it really super hurts"

"Did you swallow something?"

"Ya, but it is stuck right here."

"Do you want a drink to help you get it down your throat?"

"No, it hurts to badly."

"Do you know what you swallowed?"

"Ya, it was one of those end pieces that is shaped like this."

"Buddy we don't swallow tinkertoys. They can make us choke. We don't put things in our mouth that aren't food."

We are hoping it exits a little easier than it entered. But we still haven't seen evidence of an exit. Check.

We are praying he leaves his eyes alone.