baking soda magic trick {chase got stung}

i was watching him play in the water table from the kitchen table.

he was scooping up mud and sand.

not a single piece of clothing on the boy.

he was so happy.

i couldn't keep my eyes off of him.

i could tell he was just so happy to be completely naked,

covered in sand and dirt,

with his hands in all of soaking wet.

then all of a sudden he picked up something black.

a bug.

oh no,

a bug.

a bee bug.

i went to open the back door to yell at him to let it go,

and that's what i saw his entire body jump and his little face burst into tears.

i ran out, pulled the stinger out that looked like a thorn from a rose bush,

and scooped him up,

covered in mud and sand and water 

and carried his little shaking body inside to the kitchen sink.

i put that little finger under the coldest water my sink would provide and left him sitting naked on the edge of the sink while i reached for the baking soda.

i'm always hoping it's a yellow jacket sting so the baking soda actually hurts,

but either way, i'm convinced that even if it's not, just the act of baking soda makes it feel better.

brennan and max agree.

then i carried him through the house to the lazy boy chair in the big room.

he sobbed out the entire story,

while shaking uncontrollably.

he cuddled up to me so hard,

squeezing big tears out through his shut bright blue eyes.

and i just held his little naked muddy sandy body right up next to mine in that chair,

promising him that the stinger was out, and his body would soak up that ouchie bee juice any minute and make it stop hurting.

pretty soon we were all up and at em again,

inspecting the water table to any more straggler bees,

and chase spent the rest of the day telling his tale of bee sting woes to all of his siblings, neighborhood kids that came by, and workers there were in the house.

he grew up a little bit from that bee sting.

i won't ever forget how good it felt to be hugged that tight.