Brinlee brought home a note from school the other day that said she wasn't up to speed on her vaccinations and that we needed to get her in for some shots. I was pretty confused. We've never skipped or missed any doses with her, but when I called the school nurse she said there was indeed a problem. Want to know what the problem was?
The school district is really strict about the amount of time that passes between each round of multi-dose vaccines, and according to the district standards, her second dose of Hepatitis B from back when she was 6 months old was given to her a whopping 3 days early... and they wouldn't count it.
We probably could have put up a stink about it, but we decided to bribe Brinlee with candy and just go in and get it taken care of instead. A few months ago when we had been in with her I had promised her that she wouldn't need any more shots for a long time. Little did I know.
I felt really bad. But she was actually a really good sport about it, bless her heart. Here she was right before the shot (that's supposed to be a thumbs up... we'll work on that later).
I didn't take pictures of her after the shots, they wouldn't have been nearly as happy looking. But the lollypop did help! And now she's all approved and good to go. ...sheesh...
Well, poor little McKenna has had a rough little day. As she has been putting it:
"Awe dangit, I get stinged by a bee! And that is not bwate (great)!"
Luckily we have a budding little herbalist to save the day!
A little background information before we get started.
It makes this whole thing more epic.
Part 1: Back in June when grandma and grandpa came to visit, Melody found some Plantain and taught Brinlee all about what it looks like, and where you can find it, and some of the cool stuff it does (like helping with the pain and swelling from a bee sting). And of course, Brinlee, the little sponge, soaked it all up!
Part 2: A few weeks later the girls were outside playing on the back patio, and McKenna's poor little bare foot unfortunately found a bee in the grass. It stung her right between the toes, and she was SO upset! Poor little sweetie. I mean seriously, just look at that face!
Ouch, ouch, ouch!
Brinlee was pretty upset too. She doesn't like to see McKenna hurt, and her poor tender heart was just broken. She came to me in tears herself and said "I really wish we had some plantain, that would help McKenna". So Tim took her outside to find some and helped her put it on the sting.
It took quite a while and lots of cuddles before she would calm down, but McKenna finally did recover.
She has not put even one bare toe in the grass ever since!
That puts us to today:
I decided to take the girls for a walk over to the park. It was a gorgeous day, not too hot and a good little breeze blowing. We ate a picnic lunch, and fed the ducks at the pond, and then we got the old kite out! The girls had the time of their lives running that thing all around the field...
until poor McKenna found another bee that is.
Bless her heart, she even had her shoes on this time. But alas, her sandals weren't enough I suppose. She had just finished her turn with the kite and was a little ways away from me when I heard her screaming. By the time I got over to her it had already stung her right on the ankle,
and she was devastated.
I scooped her up and gathered up the kite and started back toward the stroller when I caught sight of Brinlee running herself off into the field. I hollered at her, and she just kept on going, which of course made me a little irritated. I had just told her it was time to go, and she could obviously see that we needed to not be dilly-dallying, poor McKenna was hysterical! I got Mckenna all strapped in, and was just getting ready to use my mean mommy voice with Brinlee when all of the sudden, there she was, with a handful of - you guessed it - plantain!
"Here mom, here! I found the plantain! Quick, get it on the sting, it will help! Oh, poor McKenna, I just can't even imagine! That probably hurts so much!"
And then she climbed herself right into the stroller and went about trying to comfort her poor little sister.
And I think that's about the time my heart first completely swelled with pride, and then completely melted. Such a smart, fast thinking little lady, and such a sweetheart!
I've said it before, and I'll say it again - if only everyone could have such an amazing big sister.
McKenna spent some time on the couch cuddled in a blanket and watching Veggie Tales. But I'm happy to report she's feeling better now and it seems she'll make a full recovery!
I doubt she'll ever go near a blade of grass ever again though.
Not that I blame her. This poor angel girl has had quite the run of bad bee luck.
Maybe we should try to help her simply remember her favorite things...
then maybe she won't feel so bad.
At least I got videos of the pre-sting kite flying. It was darling!
Up on campus theres this cool drum statue/artwork spot by the RPAC. We had never noticed it before, but yesterday we had been up there doing some swimming (more to come on that later) and while we were waiting for daddy to go get the car we decided to check it out.
It turns out the statue gets really hot on sunshiny days, and poor little Brinlee figured that out for us.
She tried to climb up to one of those drums and in the few seconds it took for her to touch it and get away from it, she had blister-burned her poor hand, arm, and a spot on her neck! It was so SO sad, and so confusing! Mckenna and I had played a drum just fine.... Poor Binlee found the extra hot one I guess. She was really hurting, it was heartbreaking. She was a serious trooper though. She had to suffer through the drive home and then I had to dig out my old nursing stash of stuff to get her feeling comfortable. But she handled it like a champion!
Tim was all ready to write up a big letter to OSU. Turns out there is a warning sign by the statue... oops. Too bad Brinlee didn't have a literate, responsible adult with her to help her out...
Way to go mama!
She does however have lots of people who love her! This morning our next door neighbors brought over some treats, and then her best little friend Alex showed up with a bag full of all kinds of treats and homemade "get well" cards. It was so sweet, and Brinlee was so excited! She just kept saying "my friends love me so much!"
Bless her little heart. Hopefully it's a fast recovery.
