Lice... ^^; (No, not rice)

I can laugh about it now, but I couldn't back then... I was brushing Juhee's hair one morning to tie her hair like I always do and noticed that there were a few small white.. um.. things in her hair. I tried to brush it off, but it wouldn't come off easily. I thought "it can't be.. it can't be.......", checked Sungjae's hair and saw that he had some too, had a discussion inside my head as to what I should do, and then sent them off to kindergarten/daycare. ^^; Probably wasn't the wisest or the most responsible decision...

Peter and I spent some time that morning reading up on lice. LICE! We couldn't believe it... Neither of us had ever had lice nor knew much about it so we had a lot of reading up to do! We live in Japan, one of the cleanest countries in the world. One of the most hygiene-and-bath-obsessed countries in the world. How could our kids possibly have lice???

We also needed to find out what "lice" is in Japanese... Our English-speaking Japanese friends sometimes joke about how the Japanese pronunciation of "rice" and "lice" are the same and then explain to their non-English speaking friends what the two mean in Japanese. It's usually followed by some measure of shock and horror. I know what "rice" is in Japanese but never paid close attention when "lice" was being explained. Maybe I should have?! :/

Before picking up the kids, I went to a drug store nearby and looked for lice treatment shampoo. I tried to do it without asking for help, but alas... :/ I was shocked at how expensive those shampoos are! We were able to make out most of the instructions from the explanations and pictures but having general instructions online in English definitely helped. That evening, we used our "special shampoo" and our "special comb" for the first time...

Sungjae was the first to get out of the shower and when Peter went through his hair with the lice removal comb, he got lots of eggs and a female too! It was SO GROSS!!! Ach!

I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say that many many hours were spent going through the kids' hair searching for eggs. We learned that I have a talent for finding eggs that are invisible to Peter. I couldn't believe how lo~~~ng it took for us to become completely egg-free. And no, that wasn't a typo. I did mean "us". I sleep in between the kids so did not escape... :( Peter did though! :)

I also did something like 7 or 8 loads of laundry in the first 24 hours after finding out that we had lice and then a few more after that too. Laundry was hanging everywhere downstairs! I don't like using our dryer 'cause it's expensive to run, takes forever, and everything tends to come out wrinkled, but I had to use our dryer once.

This is just some of it... There was lots more... :/

I called the kids' kindergarten / daycare to let them know that our kids had lice but that we're treating it and washing everything. Their teachers checked their hair too and said they seemed fine. Their teachers thought it was kind of funny that I was so horrified and grossed out about our kids having lice. One of their teachers said, "Oh~ It must be because Jenny-san doesn't like bugs!" I guess the Japanese perception of lice is different..?! Their teachers told me that there's been an outbreak of lice in the surrounding elementary schools since fall and so some of the kids with older siblings have had it too. There was another kid in Sungjae's class who had it at the same time. It actually ended up spreading in Sungjae's class so instead of the kids' hats all hanging together on the hat rack, they're being put away into their individual lockers and I think the kids are still being checked regularly. I really hope our kids don't come home with lice again!!!

I bumped into the mom of Sungjae's best friend last week and asked her why she had so much stuff to take home mid-week (on Fridays the kids bring everything home to be washed, but mid-week they don't usually bring home a whole lot). She said that the teacher told her that her son had lice. She had had no clue. I was surprised back then that she hadn't realized, but thinking about it now, I completely understand... We don't brush Sungjae's hair and I don't tend to look carefully at it. It's only 'cause I tie Juhee's hair every morning that I realized...

Anyway...  I think it took us three bottles of the special shampoo, many hours of me running laundry and both Peter and me trying to figure out the best (quickest, most energy efficient, and cheapest) way of drying everything, and many hours of checking through hair and removing eggs. Needless to say, every time I see a speck of anything on our kids' hair now I go on high alert... @@

Man did those little creatures make our "quiet" January a lot busier and stressful than we ever could have imagined!

I'm sure there's a really good reason why God created lice... ^^; Why, God? Why???