Seriously?

Today a kid had an ear ache. He whined and cried for about 5 minutes. I finally gave in and asked him what was wrong. He said there was something in his ear. I calmly replied, "Your finger?" He assured me there was something else in there. The following is our convo.

Me: What could possibly be in your ear?
Him: Something black.
Me: How did something black get in your ear? (Rolling my eyes..) Did you put something in your ear?
Him: No...
Me: Then how do you know it's black?
Him: I don't know. I just do.
Me: Did you put something in your ear? (in a rather annoyed tone, I'm sure).
puts his head down...
Me: Seriously, what did you put in your ear?
Him: Just something I found on the rug.
Me: Just something? Something you found on the rug? Seriously? You put it in your ear?

We walk to the nurse. The whole time I'm grilling him about putting things in his ear.

We walk into the nurse's office (who happens to be his nurse from his prior school...) and I say, Little Dude has something in his ear. Something he put in his ear.

She exclaims, "Little Dude! I saw you three times for this last year! When are you going to learn not to put things in your ear?!"

I had to walk out.. I was afraid of what I might say to him. He's six. Shouldn't he know this already?