It's Just Protein, Right?

     Nate is at that age (10 months) where he is sticking everything in his mouth!  It is so hard to make sure that there are no tiny toys or 'choking hazards' where he can reach them.  And he is pretty talented at reaching things!
     Tonight the kids and I were in the family room and I was showing them the Mormon Message about Stephanie Nielson.  We were talking about trials and I started telling them about her experience and how she overcame such a difficult challenge. (If you've never read Nie Nie Dialogues it really puts your trials into perspective!)  Nathan was playing on the floor as I shut the laptop and was talking to the other kids.  That's when I saw it- the pinched fingers heading towards his mouth.  Mackenzie was closest to him.
     I yelled, "Mackenzie!  Nate is putting something into his mouth!  Get it from him, quickly!"
     Mackenzie is such a good big sister.  And she cares so much about her baby brother.  She quickly started to brush the object from his hands when suddenly she stopped and backed up.
     "Mackenzie, get it away from him!"
     Mackenzie just watched with a horrified look on her face as he started to put it towards his mouth again.  She did make a sound something like, "Ugh," or "Ewww."
     Daren jumped up and intervened before Nathan could choke on the object.  At this point he discovered that Nate was about to eat a beetle that had slipped into our house under the french doors.  Not just a tiny little carpet beetle either.  Daren called it a stink bug but if it was, it must have been an adolescent.  I would say it was half-way between carpet beetle and stink bug sizes.  Still a hefty amount of protein, if you ask me.

P.S.  In case I didn't make it obvious enough, Daren did get to the beetle in time and Nathan did not eat it.  He has come close in the past but I don't believe he's eaten a bug yet.  I wish I could say the same for rabbit pellets.  *sigh*