Looks can be deceiving

A beautiful spring day at the park may have started out pleasant, but surely ended on a pinch-ier note. After a couple hours running and climbing high at the Castle Park (a truly magnificent park) Altea eagerly grabbed for a handful of flowers. Being four now, and more aware, this may be the first Spring she's really noticed the beauty in flowers and seems to be looking, poking, picking, and collecting them with every chance she gets. But with this grab, there was more than just a flower in her fist, there was a bee.

I saw the whole event out of the corner of my eye, and being that I've had plenty of bee stings myself, I knew instantly what had happened. Altea and her friend were running along the path, next to a huge bush of purple flowers, the kind the grow in clumps, not individually. She barely stopped running when she reached in to grab a handful. A little bee must have been tucked inside, out of sight. Altea closed her fish around the cluster of flowers and pulled. Instantly she screamed. Realizing the flowers had no thorns, my stomach clenched and my heart sunk deep into my chest. A bee sting. And here we were, at a park. With no first aid kit, or ice, on us. (Score for mom, by the way.)

Now, keep in mind I am pregnant and due in about 3 weeks. I pick up my 4 year old and carried her to the bathroom. I don't know if my brain was impaired by the shock or if these faucets really were clever little bastards, pardon my French, but we could not turn them on! My daughter has a bee sting, right now. I've managed to remove the pincher, but she desperately needs some running water and I cannot get the faucet to run. So I picked her up again and carried her across the park, over the grass, and through the parking lot to my car. I make sure to always keep a case of water bottles in my trunk. This is for emergency drinking needs, but apparently they work great for bee stings too. I opened a bottle, submerged her pinky, and fastened the kids in their carseats.

Once we arrived at her friend's house, we were able to get her littlest finger on ice. Then I nursed her, which calmed her instantly. The power of breastmilk. Again, I really don't understand how parents can choose not to take advantage of this wonderful gift. Nothing seems to calm or nourish them so quickly, as the breast.

At least now when I tell Altea to keep her shoes on, while playing in a field of grass flowers, maybe she'll listen to me. Maybe.

In the meantime, I don't think we'll be singing this childhood favorite, for a long long time.

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me,
I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee,
Ouch! It stung me! (Spoken)

I'm squishing up the baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me,
I'm squishing up the baby bumblebee,
Ooh! It's yucky! (Spoken)

I'm wiping off the baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me,
I'm wiping off the baby bumblebee,
Now my mommy won't be mad at me!