Approximately three days after the chocolate cake debacle of 2013 (which is now two months ago, I realize), I was at work about to leave and got this text from Philip that said:
"We have lice!"
I stare down at my phone trying to understand what I am reading.
Is he talking about the dog? No, dogs get fleas, not lice. Is he talking about some thing Yuki made that she is calling "lice?" What does he mean by "we?" Oh, denial. You're such a time suck. Moments later, it all came together in my slow brain.
We =Yuki
Have lice=has head lice
!=sarcasm and panic
I respond with something like "what the f*&%?" but hear nothing. Then the questions start to flood my head.
1. How did he find out?
2. How bad is it?
3. Did he get any advice from the person who found them?
4. Do we need to get some stuff?
5. Do we need to wash some stuff?
6. Does she have to stay home until it's gone?
7. AAAAAHHHHHGGGGGRRRRRR!!!!!!
In my line of work, we have of course, encountered head lice. We once talked down a costumer who request the we shut down a show because one child had lice. "Kids get them all the time. Their parents will take care of it and we just need to swap out any hats we're using." I said. But of course I can remain calm because it's not my kid. And I have to admit, I never really learned exactly what you are supposed to do should that ever happen. As I am trying to figure out what to do, my head was starting to itch. I was having a mild panic. I tell my co-worker with a tense smile on my face and he says, "oh, call the lice lady. My cousin had to take her kids there and she LOVED her."
Lice lady??!!
Yes, friends. Here in Seattle there is a very smart lady who started a business called Lice Knowing You. I am not joking. I go to her website and do a quick glance. You just go there and they take care of it. And they have a whole list of what to do at your house--like, you don't have to set everything on fire like I was thinking.
Then I finally get a response from Philip (who was driving home with the child and was setting her up for snack and TV watching). Turns out Yuki's after school program does a routine lice check (thank GOD) and a teacher found some nits in Yuki's hair. She suggested to Philip that we call the Lice Lady also so he had just left a message. He was also starting to strip her bed. I offer to call her again and I get through. She is super friendly and tells me that she has an office not too far from us and we can take her at 9:00 am the following day. She told me to bring one shirt for Yuki to change into and a plastic bag to put the old shirt in, but then she can go to school right after for she will be lice free after one visit.
Sold.
I then ask her if we need to do anything tonight and she says there is not anything we can do to make things better or worse, so not to worry about it and wash her bedding tomorrow.
Yuki was pretty bummed when I saw her but her teacher assured her that it's not anything she did and that kids just get them sometimes. I told her that that was true but it's probably not a good idea to share head bands with her besties (this was fresh knowledge that I acquired about how you only get lice from head to head contact). It was tricky to tuck her in without touching her head to mine, and still look like I cared. We got in bed trying not to think about what maybe hatching in her head or ours. Oh the horror.
The next day, I call the school to say that Yuki will be in about an hour late and all three of us venture out to this unknown world of de-licing. We all go because they check family members for free (starting to understand why this lady is loved). We get to the address, which is in a residential neighborhood and it's in a small office building. You have to ring the buzzer but on the unit, it just says "LKY" for discretion. It's like some kind of clinic for sexually transmitted disease. We go up the stairs and open the door and in front of our eyes opened up a most child friendly looking hair salon/spa like room. There are three salon chairs on on end of the room, big windows from which the sun is pouring in, a play area with a large flat screen TV that is playing the Disney Channel. It's just one room so there is not really anything to protect your privacy. Instead, the feeling is like, "it's OK, we're all in this together."
The nice lady asks us to sit for a minute and Yuki is immediately drawn to the TV. Then the lady takes her over to the chair and spray their magic potion and comb the hell out of her head. Then she wraps her head in plastic with a shower cap and tells her to go watch TV for a bit. In the meantime, she has us sit and sprays some stuff and combs our hair out and lets us know that Philip and I are clean (I almost cry from joy). Then it's back to Yuki and she combs out the nits (eek). She tells us that she does not see any lice, but just nits and that she must have gotten it just over the weekend so it was very mild. All music to my ears. Then she shows us what they look like and I realized I would not have caught it because it does not look anything like what I thought it would.
By 10 am we were out of there and Yuki was back to school with her hair in a tight bun. She told us later that everyone in class said her hair smelled good and was touching it (no no no no no).
Then it was over. She went back a few days later for follow up and was all clear and now I use a lice repellant detangler every morning. It's not a guarantee but if it helps, I am doing it. And I sent out an email to her friends who were at her birthday party and many of them were like, "Oh yeah, we've been there. Did you go see the lice lady?" I guess it was a rite of passage.
So there, we can now check that off. Along with kindergarten--which is what I should be writing about but instead, this is the post.
"We have lice!"
I stare down at my phone trying to understand what I am reading.
Is he talking about the dog? No, dogs get fleas, not lice. Is he talking about some thing Yuki made that she is calling "lice?" What does he mean by "we?" Oh, denial. You're such a time suck. Moments later, it all came together in my slow brain.
We =Yuki
Have lice=has head lice
!=sarcasm and panic
I respond with something like "what the f*&%?" but hear nothing. Then the questions start to flood my head.
1. How did he find out?
2. How bad is it?
3. Did he get any advice from the person who found them?
4. Do we need to get some stuff?
5. Do we need to wash some stuff?
6. Does she have to stay home until it's gone?
7. AAAAAHHHHHGGGGGRRRRRR!!!!!!
In my line of work, we have of course, encountered head lice. We once talked down a costumer who request the we shut down a show because one child had lice. "Kids get them all the time. Their parents will take care of it and we just need to swap out any hats we're using." I said. But of course I can remain calm because it's not my kid. And I have to admit, I never really learned exactly what you are supposed to do should that ever happen. As I am trying to figure out what to do, my head was starting to itch. I was having a mild panic. I tell my co-worker with a tense smile on my face and he says, "oh, call the lice lady. My cousin had to take her kids there and she LOVED her."
Lice lady??!!
Yes, friends. Here in Seattle there is a very smart lady who started a business called Lice Knowing You. I am not joking. I go to her website and do a quick glance. You just go there and they take care of it. And they have a whole list of what to do at your house--like, you don't have to set everything on fire like I was thinking.
Then I finally get a response from Philip (who was driving home with the child and was setting her up for snack and TV watching). Turns out Yuki's after school program does a routine lice check (thank GOD) and a teacher found some nits in Yuki's hair. She suggested to Philip that we call the Lice Lady also so he had just left a message. He was also starting to strip her bed. I offer to call her again and I get through. She is super friendly and tells me that she has an office not too far from us and we can take her at 9:00 am the following day. She told me to bring one shirt for Yuki to change into and a plastic bag to put the old shirt in, but then she can go to school right after for she will be lice free after one visit.
Sold.
I then ask her if we need to do anything tonight and she says there is not anything we can do to make things better or worse, so not to worry about it and wash her bedding tomorrow.
Yuki was pretty bummed when I saw her but her teacher assured her that it's not anything she did and that kids just get them sometimes. I told her that that was true but it's probably not a good idea to share head bands with her besties (this was fresh knowledge that I acquired about how you only get lice from head to head contact). It was tricky to tuck her in without touching her head to mine, and still look like I cared. We got in bed trying not to think about what maybe hatching in her head or ours. Oh the horror.
The next day, I call the school to say that Yuki will be in about an hour late and all three of us venture out to this unknown world of de-licing. We all go because they check family members for free (starting to understand why this lady is loved). We get to the address, which is in a residential neighborhood and it's in a small office building. You have to ring the buzzer but on the unit, it just says "LKY" for discretion. It's like some kind of clinic for sexually transmitted disease. We go up the stairs and open the door and in front of our eyes opened up a most child friendly looking hair salon/spa like room. There are three salon chairs on on end of the room, big windows from which the sun is pouring in, a play area with a large flat screen TV that is playing the Disney Channel. It's just one room so there is not really anything to protect your privacy. Instead, the feeling is like, "it's OK, we're all in this together."
The nice lady asks us to sit for a minute and Yuki is immediately drawn to the TV. Then the lady takes her over to the chair and spray their magic potion and comb the hell out of her head. Then she wraps her head in plastic with a shower cap and tells her to go watch TV for a bit. In the meantime, she has us sit and sprays some stuff and combs our hair out and lets us know that Philip and I are clean (I almost cry from joy). Then it's back to Yuki and she combs out the nits (eek). She tells us that she does not see any lice, but just nits and that she must have gotten it just over the weekend so it was very mild. All music to my ears. Then she shows us what they look like and I realized I would not have caught it because it does not look anything like what I thought it would.
By 10 am we were out of there and Yuki was back to school with her hair in a tight bun. She told us later that everyone in class said her hair smelled good and was touching it (no no no no no).
Then it was over. She went back a few days later for follow up and was all clear and now I use a lice repellant detangler every morning. It's not a guarantee but if it helps, I am doing it. And I sent out an email to her friends who were at her birthday party and many of them were like, "Oh yeah, we've been there. Did you go see the lice lady?" I guess it was a rite of passage.
So there, we can now check that off. Along with kindergarten--which is what I should be writing about but instead, this is the post.
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