We've had one lousy week. Literally. Lice has been endemic at N's daycare for about 4 months and it was our turn last week. I have never seen an adult louse and haven't experienced lice in my life. Until this past week.
And lice (or rather their nits) have flipped our reno-filled house. Our laundry room, functioning as a kitchen, has been working overtime with all the clothing and items flowing through the hot wash cycle and into the hot dryer. My dh has led the charge in the battle against the louse.
It was a good thing last week that I was attending a seminar within walking distance from our home. Why, you might ask? Because little N (whom we thought had her lice under control) bounced from her car seat, to K's car seat, to the driver's seat. The next morning, my dh had sprayed my car thoroughly with louse disinfectant which then needs to sit undisturbed for 4 hours (and then needs to be aired out due to the stench of the chemicals). I had contemplated taking our old Corolla to the seminar but its exit from the garage was blocked by a saw and the Corolla itself was covered in plastic as the contractor had been using the garage to build an ark to do trim for the kitchen. (It has rained so much this year that my flower beds haven't been fully weeded, pruned or planted!)
But there are always silver clouds! K is delighted that N has lice and is forbidden from K's room and from playing with K's toys.
I know I'll look back at this incident in a decade and laugh about this character-building experience which is primarily my reason for posting it. I'll let you have the first chuckle; I'll need to wait about a decade for my sense of humour to return from this one!
Head lice are common place in the tropics. A lot of research is done at our local university. It's a fallacy that they can survive on bedding, clothing or hairbrushes. There are also conditioner sprays that make the hair too slippery for the eggs to adhere. It also helps to blow dry the hair every day for a while and cook the little blighters.
ReplyDeleteHere we go. Here's the link to a fact sheet by the head researcher.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jcu.edu.au/school/phtm/PHTM/hlice/hlinfo1.htm
As PP said, common as mud around these parts. We have regular outbreaks in my classroom, no matter what we do. Lots of inexpensive conditioner, and a hairdryer.
ReplyDeleteOh no! It would take me a decade to laugh about lice, too. Sorry you're having such a lousy week!
ReplyDeleteOh nooooooooo. That is a LOUSEy week! You are a woman with much strength, MJ! I'm reading PP's and Rhubarb's comments and I'm taking mental notes for the future. I hope I don't need the advice!
ReplyDeleteWe used all sorts of pediculicides with chemicals but in the end we had to use LiceFree. It is natural and smells like licorice. Don't use the stupid comb. I had to do it all by hand...Crazy. Especially because my daughter's hair was waist length!
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a better week. We are working on a having a better one here.
Lice/nits... oh, no! Do hope you'll be free of those buggers soon! Hope this week will be better. :o) ((HUGS))
ReplyDeleteWe were just talking about lice and how we *touch wood* escaped them. One of Loopy's friends is off to camp as a counsellor where lice arrive every year. She is beside herself. She plans to forego washing her hair and simply rubbing tea tree and olive oil on her scalp nightly and wearing a head wrap.
ReplyDeleteYou know, as a teacher, I know that lice can only secure themselves to the cleanest heads. It's a terrible irony.