One Girl Vs. The Anthill

I took my son to karate tonight. While he was in class, my daughter and I walked around outside. I whipped out my phone to take a picture of her, but she walked away, grabbed a moundful of dirt, and stuck it in her mouth.

I ran over to wipe it off her, when I realized this wasn't just dirt -- it was an anthill.

I'm doing everything I can to wipe them off her and pull them out her mouth! She's fussing slightly, but not crying. I pick her up, sit her on top of our car, and frantically start checking her out.

A friend had just driven up with her son, so I told her what happened. She handed me water and crackers, and we both looked her over best we could.

By this time, my daughter is laughing and talking, so we're assuming she's fine. After careful inspection, we see only three bites -two on her face and one on her hand. They are barely red or swollen.

I'm really not sure what to do in this situation, but I should learn. Georgia is full of these giant anthills. I thought about calling her doctor or poison control, but my friend just told me to keep giving her water and watching her carefully.

So, at this time, I call my husband to ask where he is, and let him know what's going on. While I'm doing this, she walks over to another anthill and scoops up a handful. This time, I'm right behind her and immediately knock it out of her hand. (With all this rain, the grass is growing so high that these anthills are getting very difficult to spot.)

We inspect again. She's fine. Not one new bite as far as we can tell. Meanwhile, the top of my feet are covered in them, because I was standing there, holding her, and brushing ants from her. I don't really care. They itch, but it's not a big deal.

And now, she's chasing her father with a toy weedwhacker. I swear this girl needs a team of people to watch over her!!