The bean that smelled like chocolate

Today, Erin had quite the adventure. In church, the kids' organization (called primary) splits the younger and older children into two different groups. The older group goes to class first, while the younger kids are all together in Sharing Time for singing and an activity. After about an hour, the groups switch places. Erin is in the younger group, Allison is in the older. They (coincidentally) share a classroom, but at different times. Today, Allison's class was doing something with beans - who knows what. As Allison's class was leaving the classroom, Erin was coming in. Allison gave Erin a bean (pinto or chili), and said that it smells like chocolate. Well, Erin decided to get the most out of the bean, and got a good sniff. She sniffed that bean so hard that it went straight up her nose. In Erin's own words: "I smelled it really good; and shoved it up my nose without my hands!" She then tried, unsuccessfully, to get the bean out with her finger; pushing it all the way up.
After coming home from church, we investigated Erin's claim that she had a bead (try saying bean with your nose plugged!) up her nose. Nothing more fun than looking up a 4-year-old's nose with a flashlight. Sure enough, there was something up there. So, off to the ER we went, with Hannah watching Allison and Trevor.
On the way on post, where the ER is, Erin enlightened us by telling us a story about when she was a big person, watching over Allison when she was a baby. Erin apparently was Alli's guardian angel and helped Alli get something out of her nose, too. Erin also stated, "This is the worst day ever because I stuck a bean up my nose and had to go to the hospital!"
At the hospital, we were seen by the triage nurse right away, who spotted the bean with her light. She was all ready to remove it with a pair of small forceps, but Erin would not hold still at all! So, out to the waiting room we went, to wait among the sick people. The waiting room was totally packed, with just enough space for the three of us. We didn't have to wait all that long, however, before we were called back for 'surgery.' The next nurse, a Sergeant, told Erin that he was going to use the 'booger-picker' to get the bean out, and she giggled and let him work on her. We had to hold her down at the very beginning, but she did amazingly well and let him work on her little schnozz. She just kept asking, "Is it out yet?" and "Did you get it?" over and over. But, it was good and stuck. The nurse called for reinforcements, and the RN (a Lieutenant) came in to the rescue. Her name was Amber, and Erin said, "like the dog?" Amber the Nurse seemed taken aback until I explained that our puppy was named Amber. Nurse Amber then looked up Erin's nose, and successfully removed the giant bean with the booger-picker. We were very relieved and happy that this visit to the ER went so well. The total time at the hospital was just over an hour and a half, which I believe is some sort of new record for Army Hospital Emergency Rooms. (This experience makes me wonder exactly what is taught at West Point, anyway...)
We promised Erin a treat if she was good, so we stopped for a Happy Meal on the way home. Mmm, Mmm, good!