A Wee Bee

The sun was just starting to rise to say good morning as I was searching for the next ingredient for my “famous” pumpkin bread recipe. I add the two teaspoons full of yeast and think about how little of an amount it is for so much bread, then start to pour the batter into my eight mini bread pans lined up like ducks in a row.

                                               

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

 

I also think of how a little bee has changed my big spirited daughter. In my last blog I had expressed how my daughter Rachael had calmed down, and for me it was safe to assume that she got stung, it had hurt, and that was the end of it. Well, that is what I thought until I noticed something different about my daughter.

Namely, she won't go outside. Well okay, that’s not entirely true. She will go outside to the car, or outside of the car to a building, but nothing more than that. You would think that I am raising a modern day Rapunzel for the way she stays confined in places. The cause of this isolation from outside? Bees. She is traumatized of them.

At first I just thought that she just overdramatizing, she is a child after all, and children tend to overreact.  I changed my mind though after what happened at a birthday party she went to over the weekend. It was her good friend’s party and I sent her off telling her to have a good time. When I came to pick her up though I learned of her “good time.”

Well, it actually did start off as a happy occasion. The birthday girl opened her presents and all her friends were excited to see what she received. Next was cake time, and what child does not enjoy themselves eating a piece of super sweet frosting on top of spongy cake? Then it came time to go outside and swim, and that’s where things got a little soggy. 

 Apparently my daughter got ready just like the rest of the children, she even put on a swim suite. When it came time to go outside though, she froze, then refused to go outside with the rest of the children. The birthday girl’s mom tried to coax my daughter outside, but nothing prevailed. Why would my child not brave the outside world? Yep, because of bees.

What I also have come to learn is that her fear is not a fear of bees alone. Her precise fear is that these black and yellow monsters are after her. Like the moment she steps out the door after her.

That explains a lot, but at the same time it explains nothing of what I am going to do to teach my daughter that going outside to get some fresh air is not dangerous.

The pumpkin bread is now done baking and out of the oven. The house smells warm and inviting, a place to come and relax, a place to be at peace. But as I look across the room to see Rachael playing by herself because she again refused to go outside, not even the smell of freshly baked pumpkin bread can case away the worry in my mother’s heart.

Comfort Food

Today is a day of firsts in the Arrington household. For me, it was my first time making a soufflé, and the fact that it turned out and that I have rambunctious children about made it that much more of an accomplishment for me.        

                                        
                                                             chocolate souffle recipe

                                           

 For my daughter Rachael, It was her first time getting stung by a bee, but the good news is she’s not allergic like her mommy, and all seems well. She is now watching TV and eating chocolate soufflé with her sister, and is much calmer than the way she arrived home tonight.

 The neighbors had kindly invited to take Rachael with them and their daughter Megumi to a vacation Bible school at their church. Rachael had been so excited to go ever since the moment they asked, and I felt quite safe sending her there, so I readily agreed for her to go. I questioned my motherly instinct thought when she arrived home this evening.

It was after supper time when I was doing the dishes that I turned around to see the neighbors van pull in our drive way. I whiped my hands on a towel and then went to the door to meet my daughter.

When I opened the door though, not only did I meet a red eyed, sniffling daughter of mine, but also her neighbor friend’s parents. I let them all inside worrying about what had happened, but all the while stayed calm and politely greeted them while bending down to take off Rachael’s polka-dot rain boots and to hold her.

The pour neighbors seemed nervous as they apologetically explained to me that the only thing that had happened was that my daughter had been playing outside on a dome climber, not knowing that there were bees inside the bars.  By the time she had climbed up to the top of the dome, it had disturbed the bees nest and the bees came out to seek revenge.

Upon realizing that a bee army was emerging out of the bars, my daughter dropped to the ground and then tried to crawl out between the bars, but got her leg stuck. On that leg was right where an angry bee got his revenge and stung her.
Whiping a tear from Rachael's face, I was sorry that she got stung, but was also relieved that getting stung was the only thing had happened. After thanking and saying goodbye to the neighbors, I carried Rachael to the kitchen and sat her on the counter. Moving about the kitchen, I then preceded to open the cupboards and get out two bowls, then two spoons.

It was working, I had her interest now. While taking spoonful’s of fluffy chocolate cake out of the pan and putting it into the bowls, and a few in Rachael’s little mouth, I became grateful that my first soufflé was helping to take Rachael's mind off her first bee sting. She started looking more peaceful now, and confirmed my presumption she did a big sigh.

 I turned to look her in the eyes and asked if she was feeling better. She looked up and replied, “Yes, but I started feeling better when they told me that the bee died when he stung me.” she said while still chewing her mouthful of cake.

It was a good thing that I was to shocked by her response to laugh for instead I said “oh,” and took her off the counter leading her into the living room to eat and watch TV with her sister. I then left the room in time before laughter overtook me and lightened my worried mothers heart.