Yesterday while Gage was eating lunch in his booster, Mason walked into the kitchen and noticed a penny on the floor. He ran over and picked it up then walked over to Gage to show him his "treasure". He asked me if he could give it to Gage. I told him it wasn't safe for him because he would put it in his mouth and choke on it. He replied "Ohhhh", in a sort of thoughtful way, then quietly exited the kitchen.
I was currently working on last minute touches to my Relief Society lesson, so I wasn't paying close attention to what he left to do. Less than a minute later, I heard a scared cry for help, then Mason stumbled out from behind our couch and rushed into the kitchen. His eyes were really big and he had a look of terror across his face. He coughed a few times, then exclaimed "I -
gasp - chocked -
gasp - on penny!" I ran over and whacked his back a few times, then shouted up the stairs to Gabe to come help. Mason wasn't turning blue and seemed to be breathing ok, but I didn't know if the penny could be lodged somewhere. Gabe suggested that we give him some water to drink, and then gave him a throat lozenge to help ease the pain in his throat.
After Mason had calmed down from the ordeal, I asked him "Should we put money in our mouth?" He quickly shook his head and with a very wise look replied, "No, it dangerous." Then a second later he tacked on, "and not for Gage".
As a mother of four boys, I am aware that most of the time when they are told to avoid certain things, their brain translates the warning into "Hey, that's a cool idea, I'm going to try that". But sometimes they just have to learn for themselves and we as parents need to be "close by" to help them recover from their learning experiences.
