Nasty... nasty boy

I rescued this disgusting thing from Hollis' mouth the other day. It dropped on the floor and I was afraid to pick it up with my bare hands. You can't tell from this picture, but it looks to have a small vertebrae and some kind of attached "organ." I felt like barfing on the spot, but instead I grabbed a wipe and picked it up and went foraging again into his mouth for two little bits that had broken off.

Now, we weren't outside, or under the fridge, or playing in a compost pile. We were in his nursery!! A room I keep meticulously tidy and picked up. I was sitting in the glider reading and he was playing on the floor. I saw him come close and pick something up and stick it in his mouth, but I assumed it was a Cheerio since there are lots of Cheerios around these days. But then he made a little coughing noise and I thought, "Wait a minute... I better go check that out." And that's when I swiped that thing out of his mouth. - UGH, just retelling the story makes me want to gag!

Was it a dead thing the cats had dragged in? Where did he get it from?? Was it something the dog had pulled out of the trash? Was it cooked/rotting/dead/a gigantic old dusty booger?!?!

I rinsed his mouth out and made sure to wash his hands and figured I'd done all I could on that end. For extra measure I put it in a baggy and dated it (in case I had to take it with me to the ER if he got violently ill later on, of course).

My mom and Terry came over later on that night and I say casually, "Hey, Mom. Check out what I found in Hollis' mouth today. It's over there on the counter." She was appropriately grossed out and we laughed. She thought it was a bug of some kind.

Well, since today is the 11th and I haven't made any trips to the ER Hollis is obviously going to live. I had kind of forgotten about the whole thing, which is why when Anthony walked by the baggie on the counter top and said, "Hey, what's this??" I didn't know what he was talking about right away. He picked up the bag and I gave him a brief recap.

Without hesitation he says, "It's his belly button!"

Yep. That's right! Ten long months ago when Hollis' umbilical stump finally came off we lost it. We figured the dog or one of the cats had eaten it. But nope!! It had fallen off and landed in some nook or cranny of the glider. That belly button survived being moved down the hall and various positions in the nursery lodged in its secret hiding place.

I still feel like vomiting in my mouth a little at the idea of Hollis jamming his rotted belly button in his mouth, but at least it's his own DNA (Anthony's helpful suggestion)!