Yep. No need for fancy titles for this one, better to just say it like it is: my kid ate a rock. The two-and-a-half-year-old. I guess thankfully it wasn’t the almost-six-year-old, that would be a little more unexpected.

the obviously delicious looking rocks

So I am very thankful that I can fully blame my husband for this one. I was feeling sick and lying down upstairs. Kids were playing downstairs while dad cooked dinner (don’t get all jealous, it was pasta and I walked him through it from my spot on the bed). Apparently, The Rock Eater put a small river rock in his mouth to pretend it was a pacifier. Why he did this, I have no idea. He never took a paci and we have none in the house. Anyway, he then decided to run and, as one might expect, he accidentally swallowed it. I will say, we are VERY LUCKY and THANKFUL that he didn’t choke. In fact, he walked calmly up to his dad and said “Dada, I choking.” Which, from the fact that he could speak and wasn’t coughing or having difficulty breathing or anything else, clearly he wasn’t. He did relent that it was no longer in his throat, but in his belly. Took a little conversation, but the truth was discovered, confirmed by Big Sister who saw him with said rock in his mouth. At some point, I was summoned and can attest that this conversation was both infuriating and hysterical – my favorite part occurred as we tried to determine the size…Sister suggested it was boulder size (it grew as she went along) but The Rock Eater was very insistent that it was “NO GRANDE! Es pequeña! pequeña!”. He was also insistent that he could spit it out and that a shower would somehow help.

That was Thursday night. It is now Tuesday afternoon. We have had to resort to diapers again (just when we were a diaper-free house!!!) and, joy of all joys, we have had the pleasure of searching through each dirty diaper in the hopes that we find the rock. We haven’t. And so we wait.

In case you are wondering or end up in this situation yourself (I hope you don’t)…we called the nurse line right away and they have a whole flow chart to go through to be sure you don’t need to a trip to the ER. Clearly if there are any signs of distress or breathing difficulties, call 9-1-1. In general, if the swallowed object has reached the belly just fine, they are then concerned with vomiting, loss of appetite, or pain (we had none of that). They also asked and confirmed several times the size (the key, I believe, is less than an inch diameter) and if it was jagged or sharp at all (it was not). And then it is just watch and wait…wait for it to come out, that is. They do want to continue to monitor and report any pain, constipation, vomiting, loss of appetite, or fever…again, we’ve been lucky not to have that. Honestly, since he has been eating and acting totally normal, I’m not sure how long they will let this go…sounds like indefinitely since the alternative would be x-rays (which they said may be inconclusive) and then going in to look for it (which, of course, is invasive and carries risk). I didn’t ask too much about that, we will cross that bridge if/when we come to it, which I hope we don’t.

In the meantime, lock up your rocks and please wish on a shooting star or say a little prayer to whatever saint is in charge of toddlers and poop that this stupid rock comes out quickly and easily. I am getting really tired of carefully sifting through toddler poop.

The Rock Eater (and Momma) three days after rock eating

UPDATE: The rock has been found! I repeat, the rock has been found. And by found, I mean it came out…in his poop. Didn’t seem to phase him one bit. Glad it is out and glad this poop-searching time in our life is over. Oh, and here is a picture of the rock, with a quarter for size reference.  Yes, my husband fished it out, washed it off, and took a picture. He says we are keeping it to embarrass The Rock Eater when he’s older.

The Rock