The Return of Nitty Nora

This posting is not for the faint hearted...

Wow - two postings in one day! Here's the thing: No matter how well groomed your offspring are, and how regularly they wash, they are going to get nits - or head lice - at some time or another. All part of going to school and being with other kids.

So when I washed Tom's hair last night, I saw the familiar telltale signs of head lice eggs at the base of his hair. Not for the first time, so we were well prepared and able to treat his hair this evening using an existing supply of Full Marks Phenothrin mousse. The difference to the other times we have had to do this was that we decided to stick them under a microscope! Fantastic - Tom thought it was the best thing ever. Then came the master stroke - we stuck our digital camera over the eyepiece of the microscope and took some pictures. The one at the top of the page which looks like an eclipse is in fact one of the lice eggs that was adhered to the base of the hair. The one just below is of one of the lice themselves. And if you go here you will be able to watch a video clip of the little begger still moving!

Tom was quite proud of the fact that it was his scalp that had reared them. That's what comes of reading The Numskulls in The Beano and watching Doctor Who. Jane on the other hand was quite horrified. Must be a boy thing.

While I was Googling for a Wiki link to head lice, I found this link for the treatment of lice which I'll show Tom tomorrow. He thought I was joking when I said that once upon a time we would have had to shave his head! What was interesting was this article on the BBC website that basically says that a wet comb is far better treatment than all these lotions and potions. That seems quite reasonable since the little fella was still a-wriggling at the bottom of the bath. Still, it was nice to wash and dry Tom's hair - won't be long until he thinks it's too 'sad' to let me do that...

p.s. Nitty Nora was the nickname we gave to the nurse whose job it was to inspect our scalps when I was school