Ava's Eventful Summer

Ava got stung by a bee last night. She and I had been out in the garden; it was one of those perfect July evenings, warm but with a fresh breeze and nice clear air, and we were enjoying our sanctuary. She's madly in love with the garden - asks to go out there every morning first thing, and romps around excitedly to see what new blossom or vegetable has appeared. Our garden has a picket fence around it, and between the fence and the road is a line of healthy, thick shrubberies - burning bush, forsythia, elderberry, cedar, wild rose - that blocks the view of the road and gives us a feeling of peace and privacy when we're in the garden.

So we had been walking around, picking some peas and cukes, and checking out the progress of the baby pumpkins, and she got the idea to play one of her favorite games - "Baby Moose" - the game she invented at Baxter State Park a couple of weekends ago. She likes to pretend she's an orphan baby moose, and I find her. So she started to make a little bed in the thyme, but when she put her hand out to stretch herself down into it, her left ring finger found itself on top of a bee, busy deep within the small flowers. At first it startled and confused her, and then it really freaked her out. She cried and cried, and Gaffer and I put ice on it and made a paste of baking soda and water for it, and petted and hugged her until she recovered herself. The stinger hadn't stayed in the finger and at one point she looked at it and shrieked, "I have a HOLE in me!!" which brought on another round of tears.

When she finally calmed down and had a little bowl of chicken noodle soup, we started talking about what an exciting summer she's had, with so many new adventures. Only a day earlier, she had jumped from the top of Uncle Bob's boat down into Sebago Lake (with Gaffer there to catch her) - a good 6 foot leap! How far she's come from the days of having the little blow-up wading pool in the boat. She loves the water and she loves to swim, and every time we're out on the lake she's a little braver. She can jump and go under without plugging her nose, and she even went tubing with Aunt Brenda on Saturday!

She loves to ask me, "Aren't you so glad you have a little girl?" and "Aren't you glad I'm 4-1/2?" I tell her that she just keeps getting more and more interesting and fun to be around! The other day, we were on the boat, and I heard her say, "A leach!" and I turned around to see - she was holding it in her fingers, and there was a small wound on her thigh where she had pulled it off. During our two camping trips at Wadleigh Pond in May she saw lots of leeches and had been terrified of them at first. But then when she saw how much fun it was to try to hook them onto a stick and then carry them over to the fire and toss them in (*POP*), she turned into an enthusiastic leech-hunter. And so a month or so later, when she found a leech stuck to her leg, no worries!