On our trip to the Midwest, we listened to Henry and Mudge in the Green Time* about seventy times, mostly because Lucy loved the part where Henry was stung by a bee and would giggle like a sociopath when the storyteller started in on the "ow! ow! ow!" part.
Since Lucy riles Peter up like no one else can, it quickly became a duo of maniacal giggling from the back every time that bee stung poor Henry. I felt terrible that they took such glee from Henry's pain, but mostly I was kind of relieved that they'd found a way to entertain themselves and let their giggles continue on in a kind of parental salutary neglect.
Fast forward a week to a cloudy Thursday morning, when the cheers from the nearby athletic field were just too loud to ignore.The kids hopped on bikes and took off toward the field to see what was underway, and found a girls' field hockey camp closing events. We climbed the bleachers and watched the girls walking around in their uniforms and goalie gear when Lucy fell out of her seat screaming. I really had no clue what had happened, and tried to figure out what she was screaming as she clutched her leg.
Then: "bee sting! bee sting! bee sting!"**
She'd gotten not one but two bee stings on her foot, her first and second ever. One of the hockey coaches gave us ice and I wheeled Lucy back in Thomas's push car while Lucy just wailed and wailed, because if there's anyone who believes in the cathartic value of a good cry, it's Lucy.
Back at home it was decided (not by me, I should note) that Lucy could watch any episode of Elmo's World she wanted, and have free use of Cuddle Bear, and have some cashews. All like seemed reasonable requests, and by the end of her show - and a baking soda paste salve later - Lucy was almost back to normal. "And you're just like Henry," Peter noted, so of course we had to read Henry and Mudge in the Green Time.
This time, there wasn't any giggling about Henry's bee sting.
*We love the Henry and Mudge books (and especially love Aunt Kimberly, who just gifted us all of them!), and, despite the business about the bee sting, are almost always adored for the right reasons by Peter and Lucy. It's already been requested that we name any future boy babies "Henry," and we're often heard quoting lines from the book, especially, "aw, Mudge!" whenever someone gets in the way.
**My first reaction, once I realized what Lucy was saying and she let me look at her foot and I saw the tell-tale white circles, was, "wow, Lucy, you've never had a bee sting before but you knew just what it was!" I haven't had a bee sting in 20 years, so I don't really remember how they feel, but I'm still impressed that she knew just what it was, especially since she says she didn't see any bees around.
Comments