Wednesday, January 7, 2009

We are Problem Solving People

After the chemical weaponry used last night on Henry's head, I check his hair this morning. There were still a fair number of little white nits in various locations. I spent about 30 minutes riffling through his beautiful black hair and snipping out the offensive bits. Georgie told me I looked like a Mama Monkey. I responded that that might be so, but at least I wasn't eating what I was picking....

We headed off to school to get an "all clear" from the school nurse - - but alas we were rejected as she was able to spot a few more lice eggs on Hen's head. We walked dejectedly to the car. What now? Then I said to Henry (remembering that HE LOVES school and can't stand to miss a minute - - freaky, I know...) you have two choices. First choice, we can got home, wet your hair and spend the next several hours, and perhaps days, working through getting the rest of the nits out of your head. Second choice, we head to Target, buy a hair clipper and shave your head. Henry recognized that Choice One could mean that he missed more school - - and so, we headed to Target.

By 10:30, we were shaved, showered and back to school. Problem Solved. (With the exception of the 10 loads of laundry that need to be done on "Sanitize" which takes 2 hours per load). Georgie will not need a head shave since he already keeps his hair really short. In this particular circumstance, I am happy to have boys. Problem with hair - - shave it off. End of Problem.

Henry didn't seem to mind getting his head shaved. In fact, he had a little bit of celebrity for the first few minutes of getting to school. In Henry's mind, he will justify that it was worth getting tiny little hair munching creatures for his 10 minutes of being the center of attention at school. As for me, I know the problem is solved, I actually feel like we did the right thing, but I am going to miss his silky black hair for the next several months.

Oh, and the school seems to think that he actually may have gotten the lice at school. It takes 10 days for the first live lice to appear after being infested. So, it's likely that he did get it there and I just didn't notice that he had bugs in his head until now. That's a comforting thought (?) and obviously a real nod towards my stellar mothering capabilities. What bugs? I didn't notice any bugs....

Last, I was told by my sister that it was a pain to make comments on this blog - - that you had to be a member or have a google account or promise to deliver your first born grandchild or something like that. I have since solved this problem as well, and no one's head had to be shaved in the process. I was just being dopey about managing my blog/comments. So, now everyone can post away their comments. Would love to hear from you - - especially if you yourself have ever had to deal with the dreaded lice....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You will have to post pictures of Henry and his new hair cut.

Mom

Anonymous said...

Let George the Elder and Henry know that his sempai has shaved his head in a show of solidarity with Henry.

Mark Mueller

Jody Reale said...

Lucky you, you got to use the clippers! My daughter and I went through the Mama Monkey routine, and as a result of all my efforts, I wrote a book. "Let's Shave Our Heads and Sell the House: The Step-by-Step Guide for Parents Panicked Over Head Lice" is for sale now at http://www.headlicehandbook.com. Yikes!