Toddler 411: Stop Putting Things Up Your Nose!

Mamas and Papas - I need your advice!

For the past few months M has been obsessed with her nose. There is constantly a finger up one nostril or the other and I am telling her 100 times a day to "get your finger out of your nose." But lately instead of a finger she has started sticking things up there.

The other day I caught her with the pointy end of a paintbrush up there. I have found her sticking crayons up her nose. And even more frequently I am doing goldfish-ectomies with the Nose Frida and pair of tweezers!

What is the deal with the nose obsession?

Does she get this from me? My father is obsessed with his nose, largely in part to his terrible sinuses...which as I have mentioned countless times on here I have inherited. We are always blowing or squeezing, or itching or spraying something something up our noses...and yes I am totally guilty of the pick now and again. Did she learn this by watching me (as the old 80s drug PSA used to say)?

At the first sign of snot I am on her like Donkey Kong with the Nose Frida, sucking out any snottiness, and now she expects the relief so she is always asking for "boogie sucks" when her nose starts to run. Have I created a nose-obsessed monster?

Or is this fairly normal? Do your children like to stick things in their noses?

And when she does this, what kind of reaction should I have? I freak out of course and yell at her because I am so scared that she will damage her sinuses or nasal passage and lose her sense of smell or something crazy like that. She doesn't seem to get the point though because she is still sticking things up there - case and point the piece of carrot I removed an hour ago.

I will never forget when I was young (probably 5) and I stuck a bead in my ear and we had to go to the hospital. I remember it like it was yesterday - those long skinny scissor like tweezers they used to remove the wooden sphere. I have visions of me at the hospital with M in the near future getting that same instrument put up her nose!

How do I make this stop? Do I not draw attention to it? Do I yell more (that seems to be my M.O.)?

Help a Mama out!