A lesson learned

Matt works late Monday nights. I try my darnedest to make it through the day, make the kids a wholesome meal and get them to bed in one piece. And then most Mondays, we go to McDonald's for dinner. I know it's bad but I don't have to cook a meal that only I end up eating and the kids can run around on the indoor playground instead of my house. Everyone is happy.
Anyway, it was a McDonald's Monday and I needed milk so when we were done we went over the the neighboring WalMart to get some. While we were there I thought I would get a few things for dinner tomorrow (Taco Tuesday!) so I wouldn't have to go to the store tomorrow. I was checking out the tomatoes, which are in the section with some peppers, garlic, etc. Side note: I don't know why I bother with produce at WalMart, it isn't ever that great, which was the case tonight, so I guess I'm going to Wegman's tomorrow anyway...so we are heading over to the check out and all of a sudden Jesse starts flipping out. I look at him and I see huge tears coming down his face and his mouth is open and he is yelling. I am trying to figure out what happened to him b/c obviously he was hurt somehow. It's then I see something green in his mouth. I have him spit it out into my hand and I recognize probably a quarter of a jalapeno pepper. There are several things going through my mind at this point- why is my four year old just biting off produce in the store, shouldn't he know better? what do I do with this chewed up jalapeno pepper in my hand? and most obviously, how do I quench the fire in my little boy's mouth? He is yelling for water, tears still pouring down his face (and I don't think they were tear tears, these were jalapeno pepper tears!) and I didn't have any. But I did have a small bottle of OJ in the cart so I quickly gave that to him, which he downed in two seconds. It didn't help much and I could see his pain so I refrained from any lecture. We finally made it to the check out and he was still complaining, asking for a new tongue and mouth, so I explained to the women behind me what the commotion was about. She was a Hispanic woman and got a kick out of the whole situation and gave me some tips- let him drool it out and rub my hair over his tongue....hmmmm. Anyway, on the way out of the store he had calmed down but was still complaining. I used the opportunity to explain why we don't just bite into something if we we don't know what it is, or if we do know what it is and it is in the produce section of the store we still don't take a bite. He says, "I thought it was a pickled pepper" (Between the Lions reference- Peter ate a pint of pickled peppers...). Then he asked if he was going to get discipline when we got home. I laughed and said, "No, I don't think you'll be doing that again!"