Stung!

Sunshine was not feeling well on Friday, and called me to let me know just a little before work. No big deal, I know what needs to be done.

Took the kids outside Friday afternoon.

It was a beautiful day, and the wind that's been so heavy this week was practically gone. Just a little bonus breeze to keep all the kids from smelling like hot batteries while they played in the sun.

Our state license requires one staff member for every 15 kids. This means that once numbers drop to 15, we're to reduce our staff to just one.

When we went out, there were 22 kids, enough to justify keeping our new site assistant on site. (She just started this week, is a mom, and seems really nice. I don't know her yet, so we'll see how things go.)

Well, parents started picking up kids, and while we were outside, our numbers dropped to 15. I was just getting ready to take the kids in (I won't take them outside when I am there alone... in case there is an emergency we need two competent adults, ya know?) when Tracie* came running to me to ask for an ice pack, she had jammed her finger on the monkey bars.

As I was talking to her, a horrible scream came from the play structure.

Kayla*.

I had Tracie sit down right where she was, and ran over to find out what had happened. Kayla had been stung on the neck by what she (between screams and sobs) said was a bee.

"I saw it! It was black and yellow!! I know it was a bee!!"

I examined her neck and saw a red hole where she'd been stung, but there was no stinger embedded in it. I quickly got all the kids lined up and counted them as we ran into the building. Didn't want to accidentally leave one outside. Wouldn't that suck???

The kids were awesome, too. No one whined about having to go in. They lined up and were in the building in about two minutes flat.

When we return from being outside, we all wash our hands. So the kids and our assistant went out into the hall to do that, and I got Kayla and Tracie ice packs.

Grabbed the child files and looked up the phone number and called Kayla's mom. I told her that Kayla had been stung, was not showing any adverse reaction, but that the site of the sting was a little swollen.

She said she'd be there in 10 minutes, and we hung up.

By this time, all the other kids had finished washing up and were crowded round the table with Kayla and Tracie, sharing stories of times they'd been stung and/or smashed fingers. Kayla was feeling important, surrounded by everyone. People kept wanting to look at her sting. I let her take the ice pack off, show everyone once, and then made her keep it on.

When Kayla's mom arrived, she checked the sting, agreed with me that it must have been a yellowjacket or wasp, and thanked me for taking care of her daughter and for having a calm demeanor with her, since she tends toward the hysterical end of the spectrum. (for more on that, read
this . It's hard to believe I've been taking care of the kid for that long.

Anyway, that was my Friday afternoon.

How was yours?