Today Coen got his first bee sting. This is interesting because he has been obsessed with bees all summer. He's gotten documentaries on bees, read books on bees and studied bees in their natural environments. He's pet their backs, hand them land on him and watched them on the flowers for hours. It has been many a time that Coen has yelled out "Mommy! The bees are pollinating our yard!" Or whatever yard we happen to be in.
So today, I was in the house getting Lucy ready to go outside and I heard Coen crying. I ran out and he yelled, "Mommy, I got stung by a bee! Oh that darn bee! Why did he have to sting me? I didn't do anything to him. That stupid bee!"
"You said a bad word!" Lucy interjected.
"Oh that darn bee. I have the worst luck. Oh that bee. I hate that bee!" Coen continued through his tears.
"You said another bad word!" Lucy said incredulously!
"Honey, I think when someone gets stung by a bee they are entitled to a bad word or two. It's okay." I said.
So Coen and I went in the kitchen, followed by Lucy who suddenly had a very painful "Squito bite" to show us. I made a paste of baking soda and water and we spread it on his thumb where the bee had stung him as my mom did for me when I was first stung. I told Coen that he was very lucky as many kids have gotten multiple bee stings this summer--kids who are afraid of and stay away from bees...but he--who has been around bees, touching bees and following bees all summer long, got his FIRST bee sting at almost 8 years old! That made him very lucky indeed. I told him also that this was his FIRST bee sting. How exciting. He will remember it forever.
When I got my first bee sting, I told him as he climbed on to my lap, I was also around his age. And my daddy had taken me to an art fair. It was very fancy, as I recall and people were milling about sipping wine and I got a kiddie cocktail. And pizza. I had pizza sauce on my thumb and a bee landed on me. I watched it for a moment and then it stung me. And I screamed the loudest scream that's ever been screamed at an art fair and all the fancy people with their wines and their spritzers and their monocles and evening gowns... (well maybe they didn't have monocles or gowns, but they looked very fancy and quite aghast at my volume) looked over at the screaming little girl. And my dad took me home and I sat at the kitchen table while my mom made me a paste of baking soda and water to spread on my sting and take the poison out.
And Coen calmed down and I had to giggle at Lucy's surprise over his "bad words" and how he will always remember his first bee sting on his thumb, just as I do.
The artwork at the top of my blog today is by Kat Powell..She also has a blog with her really cool artwork. Here's the link.
http://kat-powell.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html
I love ALL of your reactions. So sweet. Noah got a bee sting at rec-baseball last summer, and he was much more dramatic about it. (More like you at the fancy art fair.)
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