Well That Was Clear as Mud

When Abby got home from school today I checked her head myself and I couldn't find anything, but I figured they must know what they are doing at the school. The principal said he'd be sending forms home that would need to be filled out when Abby returned to school, so I check her mail bag and no forms. There is, however, the same note we received earlier in the week. That there has been a couple of cases head lice in her class, but her head is clear. There is also a little information pamphlet about head lice, creatively entitled the 'Facts of Lice' (haha), but nothing else that even hints at Abby having head lice. So I grab Mike's mega-manly flashlight and proceed to check her head again. I see a lot of debris in her hair, she's a pretty flaky kid, but nothing that looks remotely like lice.

Now what? Do we wash her hair with the lice shampoo anyway? Do we wait until Monday and call the school and ask WTF? Well I had just spent all afternoon boiling my sheets in a cauldron in the yard washing any and everything that may have come in contact with Abby's head and I certainly didn't want to do it all again tomorrow if it turned out she actually did have lice so I scrubbing I did go. I wasn't sure what to tell Abby. I wasn't sure explaining what lice was would be the best approach. So instead I told her that her hair wasn't feeling good and needed some special shampoo to make it feel better. She balked at first, but then I told her the principal had called and asked me to make her hair better or she'd have to stay home from school and then she was good to go. She actually did very well until about the last minute. She started crying and continued to cry through the hair rinse. Then I bribed her with a bag of ginger snaps and she sat perfectly still through the hair combing portion of our evening.