When a child repeatedly witnesses everyday tasks, they become old hat. Certainly nothing to fear. But trivial things can be extremely frightening to a kid if this trivial thing is new to him – especially if it is something being done to him. That, I think is the case with blowing a toddler’s (or even an infant’s) nose. Someone taking an object, albeit a soft one, and pressing it to your face is rather a scary prospect indeed.

Nose wiping was always a struggle with Carman and Sudoku when they were little. They wanted to run from the tissue when they saw it coming. Haven’t you seen old ladies hold a tissue behind their backs, approach a little tyke with a big smile on their faces, and just when they get close enough, whip out the tissue and lounge for the kid’s runny nose? Yes. I admit I played that game with my older 2 as well.

With Doodle, though, it was different from the start. There was never a time that he minded having his nose tended. I assume that’s because he had older siblings whom he had watched blow their noses. (Sure, he watched Marathon & I as well, but adults usually don’t get colds as often as children.)

Then I was amazed to see that when he was a little over 1 year old, he would sometimes get tissue from the bathroom and blow, not wipe, his nose. He got it.

Hind sight’s 20/20. If I could go back and teach my first born, as the cold season was beginning, I’d let him see me happily blow my nose. I’d probably try to make a game out of it; I’d let him blow MY nose. Now that cold season will be starting here soon (Sudoku has a cold now!), I’ll try to incorporate the nose blowing game into my playtime with Rosebud. – milkmaid