Getting It Together!

But I’ve been so busy with the start of school, getting asked to do about 600 committees (why did I ever say YES to the first? This is how they get you!) and getting C’s PT/OT/Hippotherapy/Special Dance/Sunday School schedule all together. Oh, and trying to take care of myself by changing my medication, getting started again with a new therapist and training for a half-marathon. SO, it’s no wonder that poor little Me Too, who has up until now been completely neglected, should DEMAND that we now pay attention to her.

Case in point:
1) Yesterday, at school, she and her class went on a nature walk. They are, after all, the Chipmunk class, so of course they must go searching for chipmunk burrows whenever possible. Well, apparently she and a couple of other girls in the class happened upon a bee hive full of some VERY ANGRY BEES. The kind that don’t stop once you turn and run, but actually CHASE AFTER YOU. My little munchkin got stung multiple times, which I didn’t hear about until much later because I never got the voice mails from the school.  She’s fine now, and is still talking about sitting naked on the floor of the bathroom (after they stripped them all down to make sure they got all of the stingers out) eating the ice cubes the teachers had brought to them for their bites. She’s tough, I know.

2) My husband picked her up from school today and brought home not one, but TWO incident reports for us to sign. One, of course, was about the bees. The second, well, apparently she and another friend (the school wouldn’t tell us who but of course Me Too ratted her friend out) were arguing over the steering wheel on the jungle gym. Yelling gave way to pushing, and when that didn’t work, her little friend BIT HER. Now, I know this kid, and I’m sure it was self-defense. I’m sure Me Too was not an innocent victim here. It’s just the two incident reports got to me.

AND, of course, there’s a #3 (don’t these things always happen in threes?) Me Too has insisted that she grow her hair out (like one of the characters on Barney, she wants to have long hair.) Obliging (she really has beautiful golden brown locks) I have stopped cutting her bangs, instead pinning them back with barrettes or headbands. Well, tonight, on the way to C’s therapeutic riding lesson, Me Too decided it was the night to take the barrette out of her hair and put it in her mouth, where she proceeded to choke on it, and then swallow it. I was in the front seat of the moving car, of course, so I didn’t see what happened until she was crying and trying to cough this thing up. Of course, we all FREAKED OUT. She was breathing fine, talking and singing, but of course I called the emergency number at the pediatrician’s. The very kind doctor who called back assured me that Me Too was probably going to be fine, that the fact that she could talk and breathe meant the barrette wasn’t stuck in her trachea, and to just watch her- probably it would just pass or (gross-out alert) be encapsulated in her body somehow. But of course, to watch her and make sure she’s not in any pain in her chest or stomach, and of course, give her fluids and something to eat to push the thing down.

Well, needless to say, it’s been quite a couple of days. I’d like to curl up in bed and drink my anxieties away, but of course that’s counterproductive, especially when I have so much to do (and who knows how alcohol would combine with my new anti-depressant cocktail.) So, I have to just wait, watch and hope everything is better tomorrow. And give my little ones an extra squeeze whenever I can.

Glad to be back, though. I missed this.

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Tags: bee stings, childhood, parenting, swallowing a barrette