Has it really been two months?? Yikes. So sorry about that.

So much has happened, I guess I should just hit the highlights.

Well, in March, Rachel got head lice. We found out when I, as her class's "mystery reader" came in to find the reading chair covered in plastic. Ms. Burke explained that there were some students that had lice -- all girls, apparently -- and that she had banned hugs until the problem was resolved. At the end of the day I asked her if Rachel was one of the girls, and she said diplomatically, "I'm sure nothing is wrong, but you should check with the nurse," or something like that.

So, off to the nurse we went, and, sure enough -- Rachel had lice. There were specks of white all over her hair, and the nurse combed her fingers through it and removed a live, wriggling nit. You really haven't been a parent, I guess, until you've had that experience. I had the nurse check me, too, and thank God I didn't have anything. Probably because I only see Rachel at night, and I lean down to kiss her and don't touch her hair.

As soon as Rachel saw that, she burst into tears and yelled, "I FEEL LIKE A FREAK!!" I had to calm her down and say that we'd take care of it, it was totally normal and we just needed to find the medicine to get rid of it. The nurse gave me some suggestions while I, dazed, tried to absorb it, and then we went home. I called Drew, contacted my friend Molly on Facebook, and then we drove to CVS to pick up the shampoo, combs, etc.

The funny part: I was trying to be discreet and said in a low voice to the pharmacist, "Um, where can I find..." when Rachel piped up and said, in a not-so-soft voice, "I HAVE LICE." I could have sworn that some folks on a line a little ways down heard us. Anyway, the pharmacist took us to the shelf with the medicine, explained that her sons had had it, too, and pointed out the stuff she had used. We bought it, went home, and then after Shabbat dinner that night, Drew took on the job of applying the shampoo and, he later told me, combing out a lot of dead nits.

That week, he was in charge of applying the hair stuff and combing Rachel out because I had to work five straight days. My favorite anecdote from that time was when Drew told me Rachel said, "DIE, vermin! DIE!" during one of the comb-outs. Yep, that's my girl.

It was over after a week (which included us washing all of Rachel's clothes and bedding and running her stuffed animals through the dryer), and, now that we've had that experience -- I hope it will never happen again. At least Rachel gets a kick out of how she announced in public that she had lice. I told her immediately how funny she'd been, and she saw the humor in the situation.