One of my biggest fears has now come to be. The big "L"....lice. The elementary school the kids go to has always been known to run rampant with these little blood suckers. I've been very lucky the past 3 years because Ian has never come home infected. But you put Sam in kindergarten for just 3 weeks and what do you know, it happened. Ugh.
We were out to dinner in Hershey on Saturday night with one of the families we traveled with. My friend looked at me and said, "Sam just scratched her head." NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I don't want to hear that. I want to be in denial forever. Once we were done eating, I asked my friend to come to the restaurant bathroom with me and take a closer look at Sam's head. She would know what to look for and could give me a definitive answer on if Sam was infested. Upon closer inspection, the answer was what I feared. Sam had nits in her head. My friend and I went into action. Can I just say, THANK G-D FOR MY FRIEND!!!! She knew what to do and was able to keep me calm and walk me through those very important first steps.
We sent Jeff and the kids back to the hotel with the other dad and his kids. My friend and I went to Target (same shopping center as the restaurant we were eating dinner). I bought the Rid system, a new hairbrush, and headbands (obviously Sam couldn't wear what I packed for her). As soon as I got back to the hotel, I did a treatment on Sam, Ian and myself. I wasn't taking any chances. I wanted to do one on Jeff too, but that would've been overkill -- the guy doesn't have any hair.
Sam was wonderful about the situation and if there was going to be a time I needed her to be patient and sit still while I combed out her hair with the nit comb, this was it. Fortunately, she has been excellent the two times each day I've been keeping this up for the first week.
As soon as we walked back in our front door on Sunday, I went into attack mode. Within 10 minutes I had all the beds stripped and the many, many loads of wash started. I packed up all of Sam's stuffed animals and hair accessories into trash bags. They will sit there for the next 21 days until its safe to put them back in her room.
I am so skeeved out by this whole thing. It is incredibly gross to think that bugs are hatching in your kid's hair. Maybe mine too! Ugh. From the "RID" instructions sheet: "Also, lice can hold their breath when immersed in water making it difficult for the active ingredient to penetrate the lice." Seriously, how gross is that?
There is a special, natural lice repellent shampoo, conditioner, and leave-in spray (Fairy Tales) on the market that has been recommend by another good friend. I've already started using it on Sam and will do for the rest our lives. It's expensive, but can you really put a price on trying to prevent this from occurring again?
Also, in my research, I've been told that lice like clean hair. I am no longer washing Sam's hair every day. If she is lucky, we will wash it every 2nd or 3rd day. Who needs her hair to be clean anyway?
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