*snort* *snort* *snort*
Robert has chronic rhinitis; I guess it beats asthma. Like me, he's sensitive to dust and dust mites, and he's got a few other environmental allergies. I suspect that we could tear out every trace of carpeting in the house and buy him a new bed and hermetically seal all the furniture under plastic, and he'd still be sniffling.
In the past the allergist has recommended a sinus rinse -- basically a big plastic squeeze bottle we fill with a cocktail of warm water, kosher salt and baking soda, that he uses to flush his sinus passages. It's an evolved version of a neti pot, which has been used for quite a long time in Eastern culture.
But asking an 11 year old boy to stick a bottle up his nose and flush water through it isn't effective; it's just not a regimen he's willing to put up with. In fact, Robert's not even willing to blow his nose into a tissue. So especially this time of year, when the ragweed is in bloom, we hear this almost constantly:
*SNORT* *SNORT* *SNIFFLE* *SNORT*
It drives me absolutely batshit.