Such a lovely topic for a post

You might call it an "ah-ha" moment. Perhaps more like an "uh...duh" moment.

For the last month Annalise has begun getting giant boogers in her nose every day. Hard little pebbles that seem impossible to extricate. This is a new and rather yuck-some event at our house.

Now, Buggy-Boo is not the sort of lass that just allows you to do with her what you will. She is highly opinionated, highly sensitive, and not afraid to assert her will or loud voice.

Long before we had this issue I learned about the electric nose suctioner from a friend, and it sounded so much better than the bulb suctioner. (It seemed more effective! Easy to clean! It plays music!) So I bought one and into Annalise's stocking at Christmas it went. (Now that's an exciting gift for you.) But I made the mistake of turning it on right next to her face and the semi-loud humming from it startled the life out of her, causing terror and tears and after that she would never again let it near her. So I've been resorting to trying to pick her nose with my finger which is both highly ineffectual and entirely unpleasant for both of us.

When boogie-extraction attempts are initiated, our wee daughter reacts in a loud enough voice to alert the neighbors so perhaps they can save her. She puts up a good fight. She puts up an effective fight. So effective that said boogies are often left in her nose, much to my dismay, hanging out for the world to see, except what am I supposed to do? It's like I'm abusing her if I hold her head down and she's screaming and crying and thrashing. And I swear it takes me forever to get those gross little things out. Like ten attempts, what with all the non-compliance, and then afterwards she hangs on to me so tight and just moans from the trauma of it all. It's pretty much torture for both of us.

Then the other day I had an idea. Why not try the bulb suctioner?

I did.

It worked immediately.

There were no tears. No tortured aftermath. A clean nose.

Um... duh.