Parental panic, Vol. XXVI

As I was picking up Nicholas from his grandmother's church, he ran over to a trash can to throw away his lollipop stick. A family was standing nearby and since Nicholas has no fear of strangers, he inserted himself into their midst. The mom gave him something; it turned out to be a penny. I reminded him to say thank you and he tore off to the ATM where he tried to put it into one of the machine's slots.
As we walked down the hallway back to the parking garage, Nicholas busied himself by putting the penny into his mouth (yuck!). I told him to stop it, but of course, he kept right on doing it. Then, because I was pulling him along in a crowd of people, he did what all children do when you want them to behave, he decided to lay on the floor. With the penny in his mouth.
Only now, when I told him to spit it out, he grinned. But because he was on his back, the penny fell into his throat. His smile evaporated and was replaced with wide-eyed terror. He tried to swallow. I immediately imagined the upcoming trip to the emergency room and the long, arduous journey the penny would take through his GI tract.
But I was snapped back from my daydream when a nearby woman exclaimed, "he's choking!" I snatched Nicholas up by the belly and gave him a couple quick Heimlech squeezes and out popped the penny. That was a close one!
Of course, the whole ordeal lasted less than three seconds. So my pang of fear didn't come until afterward, when I was carrying him to the car. Ah, parenthood.