Bee Bites

Today was another first at the Rahija household. Erin, while playing in the backyard, encountered a stinging bug of some sort. She first told me it was a bee, then later, a wasp. All I know for sure is that she stuck her hand up under the "big green box" (some sort of utility box in the back yard that the kids use as their table and "play central"), a bug stung her right ring finger, and the bug, a large black stinging machine, flew out from under the box. She also said it had a nest with 5 holes in it, so I'm guessing a "mud dauber" or bumble bee. Either way, it caused much mayhem around here ... lots of tears, major swelling, lots of accusations of the bee/wasp/whatever, questions as to why God made those kind of bugs, and more tears. We called Rachel, our nurse friend, and asked for her expertise. She told us to use meat tenderizer. We didn't have any, so we made a quick trek to the store, and returned to make a paste for her finger. Later, we used ice, and between the two remedies, her finger is much closer to it's normal size, as the swelling has redused considerably! She tearfully told Avery about her misadventure, and I felt pretty bad for her as she squeaked her way through the story. Avery seemed to really not care, but cooed her sympathy anyway. Although her pain was great, she did manage to stop crying by the time we got to the store, and the Butterfinger BBs we brought home seemed to cheer her even more. Soooo, Erin is doing better, just a little worse for the wear! Always something fun going on at Rahija Central!