Toddler brain

Most of us know this already: When you become a parent a lot of things will change and life becomes more interesting.

Ah, no kidding, eh?
For example (and I have mentioned this before), most moms experience (suffer from?) some kind of "mommy brain". So do I.
As a consequence us moms have to write everything down or we will forget it. Instantly.

Here is an example:
The local supermarket around the corner from my office is currently running a promotion where you get a free coffee with your purchase. When you pay for your goods the cashier will ask you if you want one, so that she can put it into her system.
Of course I don't say No to that. (I mean it's FREE coffee!)
Too bad that last time, I had already forgotten about my free coffee the second I had put away my credit card. So I grabbed my bag and left the store.
I realized this 2 hours later by the way.

Why is this happening?
- Because there is so much going on in our mommy brains.

Mine basically looks like this:

Yep, there is a lot happening here...

During the day I am basically hopping from one thought to the next. (No wonder I am always so tired at the end of the day.. lol)

That I always have a lot on my plate at work doesn't help either.

So I am always carrying a notepad around wherever I go. That does the trick for me.

Enough said about that though because what I discovered in the past week is that our counterparts have similar "issues" - only they don't really care that much.

What I am talking about is this: Toddler brain.

Since the kiddos don't think about it and have no worries, it must look pretty much like this:

Don't be fooled by the cuteness...

Just imagine it going a 100 miles per hour.
For 12 hours straight.

Of course this gives them plenty of opportunities to come up with crazy ideas on how to entertain themselves.

Ace's new favorite:
Sticking objects into body cavities.
It started with un-eaten pieces of carrot in his ears. Now he has moved on to corn kernels up in his nose.
The latter he tried for the first time on the weekend.
We had microwaved popcorn as a snack while watching TV and he decided to grab the bag to help himself. Suddenly it got quiet and we knew one of two things were happening:
1. He got tired or 2. He was up to something.
Of course it was number 2.
He had grabbed the corn kernels that hadn't popped and stuck one into each nostril.

Great. Exactly what you need on a Sunday night at 11.15 pm.

We started to think about heading to the ER, when we got lucky. One just fell out and the other one Ace was able to dig out himself. Phew.. good for us.
No 3 hour wait at the hospital.

Well, fast forward to last night.
You know how kids always find everything?
Well, of course we didn't give Ace any popcorn bags anymore, but he still managed to find a single corn kernel somewhere... and of course he stuck it up his nose.
No panic on our side here as we had already been through this before, but when an hour passed and the thing still had not come out I got a tiny bit nervous.
It didn't help that Ace didn't want to cooperate and declined to blow his nose. :/
Eventually I ran out of options, so I did what I always do when I don't know anymore:
I ask Google. (Mommy brain's best friend!)
And I was not disappointed cause apparently there is a CPR-like technique you can try before heading frantically to the ER.
(Read here for more info: How to get that thing out of your kid's nose)

Long story short:
I got lucky cause Ace thought this was a game where mommy gives kisses so he had fun and was holding still.
2 min later that damn thing popped out and passed my cheek with lightning speed while I ended up with toddler snot on my face.
But you know what - I could not have been happier in that moment. The kernel was ginormous. No clue how he even managed to get that in.

I can't wait to find out what he will come up with next.... :P