Ouch Times Twenty Five

Wednesday evening, Mike was grilling some meat, while I was in and out of the kitchen and garden preparing the rest of the dinner. The kids were back and forth from the yard to the park play toy that connects to our yard. To make a long story short, Drew was stung 22 times by some hornets.

We were all impressed with Drew's bravery as his tears stopped after mere seconds, and instead began picking up on what the six people surrounding him kept talking about; "Bees sting." "Bees sting." was repeated about 5,438 times.

Drew was a trooper. After a shower and some medicine, besides a blotchy body and multiple 'bee stings and toddler' Google searches you wouldn't really have known anything had happened. (Well unless you count the overdone meal--we eventually sat down too--everything cooked a little too long!)

In our almost thirteen years of parenting, we had only dealt with stings twice before. Once with Megan a few years ago, and once with Luke when he was two. Both of those earlier times, and more recently Drew's episode, I couldn't help myself from thinking about Mike's uncle who died from bee stings leaving a young child and a pregnant wife thirty years ago. I always thought his uncle must have been allergic to bees, but a few years ago I learned from the widowed wife, that he wasn't allergic to them, he just got stung too many times in too few of a day period.

Needless to say, I went to bed Wednesday night praying Drew would not get stung again anytime soon. I was amazingly calm and my usual-worried self was very much at ease as I recalled that up until Wednesday night, we've only had two stings in twelve years between all of our children.

Friday night we went camping. While Mike and Megan relaxed at the camp, the rest of us went exploring. Ellie, a few feet behind us suddenly began crying. As I walked back to her, I asked her why she was crying. She replied, "I don't know." The long and short of it--Ellie got stung!!

Unbelievable!

With Drew just a few feet away from her when the attacker came, I thanked Ellie that she took the sting for Drew.

As we finished up our exploring we went back a different way, avoiding the stairs where Ellie had had her painful encounter. Again, Ellie trailed a few feet behind and suddenly Luke's constant chatter was interrupted by a scream. Ellie was stung again.

UNBELIEVABLE!

As I hoisted Ellie up onto my back. I thanked her again for taking the sting for Drew.

The next morning. Mike set out on a walk with all the kids but Drew. Drew and I stayed home to start cleaning up camp. As the story goes, Luke, the self-proclaimed tour guide announced, "This is where Ellie got stung last night, on these stairs."

Mike, the ever-wise parent announced, "Then DO NOT go down that way."

Luke and Joshua chose to disobey.

Previously we were two stings in twelve and a half years. We are now twenty five stings in seventy two hours.

And for the record, Ellie cried more at the one sting on her arm, than Drew did with his twenty two.