This afternoon Stephanie and the boys were playing the “look at my uvula game” when something odd was discovered. First I guess I should explain the “look at my uvula” game. 

When Jacob was just two, he knew he had a penis and we’ve never been shy of naming said appendage. One day Jacob was watching Finding Nemo when he got to the part where Marlin and Dori were swallowed by the whale. Just as they are being blown out the whale’s blowhole, there was a close up shot of the whale’s uvula. Jacob asked Stephanie, “Is that the whale’s penis?” Stephanie explained that, no, it was his uvula. She went on to explain that everyone has a uvula, and proceeded to show him her uvula, my uvula, and his own uvula in the mirror. Ever since then he’s been pretty interested in everyone’s uvula. Even when he went to the pediatrician for his annual checkup and the doctor looked in to his moth, Jacob asked, “Are you looking at my uvula?” Needless to say, the doctor was pretty impressed.

Anyway, from time to time, Jacob wants to play I’ll-show-you-mine-if-you-show-me-yours. Your uvula, that is. Which brought us to this afternoon. Jacob wanted Stephanie to look at his uvula, which she did, with a flashlight. Then of course Toby wanted Stephanie to look in his mouth, which she did. Which made her call to me, “Brian, come look at this, quick!” I came over and Stephanie told Toby to open his mouth and stick his tongue way out. 

What I saw inside was pretty freakish. Alien freakish. There, in the back of his throat, at the base of his tongue, is what looks like a second tiny little tongue. As he stuck out and flexed his first tongue, this second tongue also stuck out and flexed to attention. I jumped back as if he’d had a tiny cottonmouth viper coming from his throat. His tongue has it’s own Mini Me. 

He doesn’t seem to suffer any ill effects from this bout of the bizarre. We’ve done some internet searches to see if we can find anything. Best we can determine this freakish appendage is his epiglottis, but we still don’t know why the little thing is sticking its… self… out at us. Talk about double tonguing. 

Anyone know what this might be?