There Are No Words…

to describe how unsettling last night was. Poor Little C fell asleep around 5pm after a long fun day of playing with Grandma Leslie (my mom came into town for a few days since Big C has been gone).  Around 7pm however Little C was up again and complaining that her head was itchy. She kept scratching at her poor tiny head so I sat her down in front of me to have a look at what might be going on. Imagine my horror and disbelief when I saw tiny white things CRAWLING in her hair. Little C had LICE (thank you preschool), and I was in panic mode.

I think that all parents have certain situations which they dread: your baby having the flu, getting injured, or having chicken pox. For me, one such dreaded event that always caused me to stress was the idea of Little C getting lice. I don’t know why lice has always been so terrifying. Maybe because it seems hard to control? Or difficult to get rid of? Perhaps it’s my OCD/anal tendencies towards cleanliness? Maybe it’s that I’m not a huge fan of insects and the idea of tiny bugs laying eggs in my sweet girl’s hair makes me nauseous? Regardless of why lice makes me want to scream and shave my head, Little C had them, and I had no clue what to do next.

After some quick googling and frantic texting to my fellow mom friends, I immediately headed to CVS and swiped three of the Lice Eradication Kits. Nice name, right? And WOW are those things expensive! Almost $60 later I was headed back home armed with shampoo, spray, gel, and tiny combs. I was ready to do battle. I was ready to win. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose? I hope you got the reference.

I pulled all of the bedding, sheets, pillows, towels and clothes and headed off to the laundry room where I did SIX loads of laundry in hot water. While the laundry was washing, mom and I covered Little C’s hair in the special shampoo, washed it, and then combed through it to remove the lice. I bribed her with chocolate (yes, I resorted to bribery) to keep her still in her high chair during the tedious combing process and I have never in my life been so grateful for her lack of hair. At one point she was getting bored and squirmy and announced that she would be keeping the bugs on her head in an attempt to get out of the high chair, but I explained what a poor choice it would be to keep the crawlies and handed her more chocolate which sated her for the moment. By 11:30 after another rigorous hair washing, the babe was finally in her crib, book in hand, hugging her toy tarantula (don’t ask-I hate spiders) with the lights out.

As I sit here writing this at 12:54am, my eyes keep closing (oopsies) so if there are typos my apologies. My own hair has been washed with the lice shampoo. Six loads of laundry are complete. Dishes are washed, lunch is packed. Lice are (hopefully) defeated. What a night. Parenthood is not for the faint of heart (or stomach).