Site Meter

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

A swarm of bees has moved into the big oak tree in our front yard.

After a brief (very brief) flirtation with the idea of buying one of those pith-helmety things and going in for bee-keeping and mead-making and hand-dipped candles, we called someone to come and deal with them. Said person arrives tomorrow, at 8am, supposedly, and will capture the bees and take them away with him.

Sophie is fed up because the bees are swarming right above her swing, and I won't let her play on it till they're gone.

I can still remember being chased by a swarm of bees when I was about six. My brother and I had been playing outside - not bothering the bees or anything - when all of a sudden the bees all took wing and swarmed after us. I remember running into the house completely covered in bees, screaming blue murder, and my dad (who is horribly allergic to bees) batting at the bees with a towel. Amazingly, he wasn't stung at all, and my brother and I only got a few stings each.

I have told Sophie this anecdote and explained that this is why I don't want her playing on the swing till the bees have gone. However, she just gives me her "I know better" look and says "I'll be fine mom. I know they won't mind if I swing." It is a shame that all my vast knowledge and experience is almost always completely discounted by all three of my children. And by my husband, come to think of it.

The bees did come in handy, though. Soph lost a tooth two nights ago. But the tooth mouse hasn't been yet, and the tooth remains in her slipper, looking sad and accusing. Fortunately, Sophie has decided that the bees have probably made the mouse too nervous to venture into our neighbourhood, and that it'll be along as soon as the bees have been disposed of.

Bobby did tell her that he thought Moo had probably got the mouse and she should give up hope right now, but she replied "No dad, that's what you told me last time. But remember the mouse did come in the end, when Granny and Grandpa were here?"

Funny, that - the way the tooth mouse only manages to get its act together when the grandparents are here.

Poor old Soph, the tooth mouse was always very prompt when Stephen was in tooth-losing mode, and it wasn't too much of a slacker for Em, even. These days, though, it seems awfully forgetful and demotivated.

No comments: