Recently we had an exposure to something I’ve been dreading - head lice. I’ve been dreading it because there’s been a very nasty outbreak at the local schools for about a 18 months now and [knock wood] my son hadn’t had any incidents. However, two weeks ago I noticed he was scratching his head - a lot. Doing a quick Internet search, found what I was to look for and I thought I saw tons of little eggs all over his head. Doctor appointment the next day confirmed the “bug catching,” however the little eggs I saw were mostly “hair dirt,” that can be washed away. In other words, one of the most mild cases the doctor had ever seen - whew!

My son wasn’t too happy to have “an uninvited pregnant critter” [his words] on his head, but I went into Mummy Overload and washed what was recommended [bedding & PJs], including his hair with the medicine, olive oil, and dandruff shampoo [not all at the same time!]. My son’s hair is probably the cleanest it’s ever been — which is the problem. Those critters LOVE clean hair. Also, they are the same colour as my son’s hair - making them difficult to find. Anyway, two weeks later my son’s tired of me going through his hair, tired of having to get his hair soaked before inspection, and wishing that I’d just quit jumping to look at his scalp because he scratches occasionally.

Luckily we’ve had some humour - such as when I commented, as he was watching a nature show, that I was like the Mum gorilla grooming him and his quick answer was “Then I wanna be King Kong so I get too big!”

I’ve been debating about scrapping this event. I’m not sure it’s something I really want to remember. However, it was a pretty big deal for us. But, in order to not make it too “yucky,” I’m going to put in a lot of humour. Such as how as I’m typing this entry in, I’m getting sympathy itching. How he calls it “Operation HL” and considered humming a theme song while I washed his hair with the medicine. How Dad’s avoiding all of this and Mum’s the “bad guy.” How after I washed the bed linens, my hubby quipped, “Ah, so it takes the doctor ordering it to get the new sheets on the bed, eh?” [You can wash them too, dear!] How while washing his hair, when a large dead critter was found, he instantly called out, “Let me see! I wanna see it!” [There was also the sweet time that, after watching me sympathy scratch my head, my son said, “Mom, if you have this, I’ll look over your head and let you watch ‘crazy science guy’ as I comb your hair.”]

Besides, maybe one day if he has children of his own, he can show them the pages and say “See, your Dad also got them. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Just means that you washed your hair too often.”

[Notes: Two weeks later, the scratching is a lot less - hurrah. I also got my son’s permission to post this entry - so I’m not embarrasing him, which was a concern of mine!]

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