%^&*# Bugs

Well, we thought the bugs were gone, until last Monday when The Drama Queen asked me to check her hair. She was absolutely crawling with the little pests. (Is your head itching yet?) It was worse than Monkey Girl's hair had been. Soooo, we tried olive oil, and we did vinegar, and while I'm sure these will work on mild cases of infestation, it didn't with Drama Queen. There was just so much to get out of her hair. Fortunately Wednesday was payday, so Thursday saw me shelling out some money for lice treatment toys. And while I'm still a proponent of the cheaper, no chemical method, this was money well spent.

First off, we bought a RobiComb. This was the pricey toy, at $29.95, but it really was money well spent. And it's kinda fun to use. It's an interesting bug zapper for your head. Run on a AAA battery, the comb emits a high-pitched buzzing sound that stops when it encounters a louse. This is because it's zapped the little bastard and is now waiting for you to clean out the comb's teeth with the stiff little brush included. I did this into a bowl of water. The comb only immobilizes the louse, although it should die in a few hours. The only catch to the RobiComb is that it doesn't zap the eggs. Apparently they don't have a central nervous system until after hatching, so there's nothing to zap.

So, she was still full of eggs. Actually, when the school nurse checked her hair it looked like it hadn't been picked AT ALL. Yeah, she was that bad. Off we went in search of something that might make it easier to comb out eggs. What we found was called LiceMD, which is a non-pesticide goop that loosens the eggs, making them easier to comb out. Yes! The big concern was that the comb included wouldn't be able to clean eggs off of Ro's extremely fine hair. So, we gooped it up and let it sit while I went and picked up her sister from school. (It needs to be on your hair for 10 minutes. Any longer and it starts to itch.) We combed out so many eggs it was kinda scary. After a hair wash and blow-dry, her father picked her hair again.

Now, the nurse did still pick a few eggs out of her hair the next morning, but not enough to keep her out of school any longer. YES!!!! We were both doing the Happy Dance. Drama Queen got dropped off and they did a routine check on Monkey Girl's hair while I was there...home she came. After a week of picking and soaking and picking and, well, you get the idea. I almost cried. Monkey Girl was even closer to crying. She did not want to come home. Long story short, we did the LiceMD on her...and the RobiComb as well. Both girls were back in school today, I've a mound of laundry, and they've a very clean room, thanks to their father. Oh, and we took out the love seat since the consensus was that it was the source of everyone getting lice. (Yeah, The Kate needed her hair treated as well.)

Cross your fingers for us. Please?