What's my name?
Day #2 of battling headlice in the burbs.
I wake up and barely have a cup coffee before I throw the things that can be dry cleaned into the car.
With a smile on my face and a guilty conscience I give a huge pile to the lady. I don't care if I'm spreading lice, it's everyone for themselves and I need my couch covers cleaned!
I stop off at CVS to get new nit combs. What the hell we might as well have start with a fresh start today!
I call the children's respective schools to inform them of our situation. I can already here the photocopying machine in the background making the "someone, who will remain nameless, in our class has lice, check your kid" notice. I then seek some professional advice and speak to school nurse. It seems I've done everything I can. She does advise me against doing the treatment again today. I want to make sure these suckers are dead, but it turns out that doing it again is a) bad for the kids because the stuff is so toxic and b) may make the lice more resistant to treatment in the future.
At 9:00AM I turn on the TV and hand out their DS to the boys. I place child #1 under the skylight and begin searching. My heart sinks when I find the first white egg. OMG they're still here and there are so many of them and this damn comb is still not working. And did I mention that there are so many of tese sticky white things. I have to comb each small chunk of hair about ten times. Then I move on. I go back to the previous section to make sure that I've done a thorough job but there's still more. At one point I looked down at my son's DS screen to find it covered in white nits! Horror! I'm in hell! A sense of defeat is trying to work its way into my head. How am I going to get through three kids alone? Thankfully friends call to check on me and it helps somewhat to share the pain.
As the hours pass, the kids watch TV, play video games, do their homework and I comb away, section after section, after section. As one kid gets bored I switch to the next to give them a break. I, however am on a mission so I don't take a break. My hand is cramping up. My eyes blurry, is it another nit or just my imagination. At least there are no live ones this morning, only nits! Joy oh joy.
When I do take a break it's to put another load of laundry in the washer and the previous one in the dryer. It's 1:00PM and I haven't had anything to drink or eat. By 2:00PM the kids are whining for lunch. I concede to a trip to McDonald's. At 2:30PM get back to work. The kids are being amazingly patient. I guess they want to get rid of these bugs as much as I do or maybe it's because they're happy to be home from school...
It's 5:00PM and everyone's head seems to be clean. So I whip out the flat iron and singe everyone's hair.
The three kids look like little teddy bears and I promptly strip them, put them into clean pjs and throw the day's clothing into the washer...they must be covered in egg shells. I take a shower in a vain attempt to feel clean. My hand is a big cramp, my back is killing from leaning over all day, I don't know what my name is, it's time for a glass of wine.
I think I've made some headway today. We all have an appointment with the school nurse for the following morning. At 8:00PM a friends sends me the name of a women who removes lice for a living. It's too late, I am that woman. Let's see how I did...in the meantime my head is itching.
I wake up and barely have a cup coffee before I throw the things that can be dry cleaned into the car.
With a smile on my face and a guilty conscience I give a huge pile to the lady. I don't care if I'm spreading lice, it's everyone for themselves and I need my couch covers cleaned!
I stop off at CVS to get new nit combs. What the hell we might as well have start with a fresh start today!
I call the children's respective schools to inform them of our situation. I can already here the photocopying machine in the background making the "someone, who will remain nameless, in our class has lice, check your kid" notice. I then seek some professional advice and speak to school nurse. It seems I've done everything I can. She does advise me against doing the treatment again today. I want to make sure these suckers are dead, but it turns out that doing it again is a) bad for the kids because the stuff is so toxic and b) may make the lice more resistant to treatment in the future.
At 9:00AM I turn on the TV and hand out their DS to the boys. I place child #1 under the skylight and begin searching. My heart sinks when I find the first white egg. OMG they're still here and there are so many of them and this damn comb is still not working. And did I mention that there are so many of tese sticky white things. I have to comb each small chunk of hair about ten times. Then I move on. I go back to the previous section to make sure that I've done a thorough job but there's still more. At one point I looked down at my son's DS screen to find it covered in white nits! Horror! I'm in hell! A sense of defeat is trying to work its way into my head. How am I going to get through three kids alone? Thankfully friends call to check on me and it helps somewhat to share the pain.
As the hours pass, the kids watch TV, play video games, do their homework and I comb away, section after section, after section. As one kid gets bored I switch to the next to give them a break. I, however am on a mission so I don't take a break. My hand is cramping up. My eyes blurry, is it another nit or just my imagination. At least there are no live ones this morning, only nits! Joy oh joy.
When I do take a break it's to put another load of laundry in the washer and the previous one in the dryer. It's 1:00PM and I haven't had anything to drink or eat. By 2:00PM the kids are whining for lunch. I concede to a trip to McDonald's. At 2:30PM get back to work. The kids are being amazingly patient. I guess they want to get rid of these bugs as much as I do or maybe it's because they're happy to be home from school...
It's 5:00PM and everyone's head seems to be clean. So I whip out the flat iron and singe everyone's hair.
The three kids look like little teddy bears and I promptly strip them, put them into clean pjs and throw the day's clothing into the washer...they must be covered in egg shells. I take a shower in a vain attempt to feel clean. My hand is a big cramp, my back is killing from leaning over all day, I don't know what my name is, it's time for a glass of wine.
I think I've made some headway today. We all have an appointment with the school nurse for the following morning. At 8:00PM a friends sends me the name of a women who removes lice for a living. It's too late, I am that woman. Let's see how I did...in the meantime my head is itching.
Reason #572 that I do not have kids: head lice. Just kidding, I am sure every second is worth it (even as your hand cramps).
ReplyDeleteor
Reason #572 to have a glass of wine at the end of the day: defeating head lice.
SB
Wine makes just about anything tolerable. :)
ReplyDelete