Eew Yuk!

OK.. here goes. Twice last week my son's preschool sent home a note that stated quite matter-of-factly that one of the other children in the class had head lice. Included with this very polite note was a very professional set of instructions of what I'm supposed to do to ensure that any potential new infestation is kept under control. And of course he has very long hair because there's no way he's sitting still for me to cut his hair and so what cutting gets done must be done when he's asleep. But that's another post. His teacher assured me they hadn't found any on him but were informing me of the potential, regardless. Anyway.. for now I'm all freaked out about the whole lice thing and just kind of living in denial hoping that this would be something that would bypass us (and my 2 other kids) and we could go on with our lives as if nothing had happened at all. Then the most amazing thing happened this morning. My son brought me a tissue and MADE ME TAKE IT from him. It wasn't good enough that I might just take it from him in a normal manner.. this transfer of object HAD PURPOSE! Now about then I happened to look at him directly and noticed that he had a spot on his head where the hair had been mussed into oblivion.. you know.. the sort of thing that could only have been caused by the repeated rubbing of a tissue into that spot. Now.. I find it all too easy to dismiss the strange behaviors of this odd little 4 year old boy.. but something compelled me to look more closely at this tissue that I'd been quite forcefully given possession of. And there it was. Despite my pleas to the lice gods I and my family had been sucked into this vortex of hell. Now.. this is new to me but my googling (is that a word?) showed me that it's not really anything to be too upset about and we'll just have to stay on top of it.. but the fascinating part of it all is that this kid, with whom I am unable to have a verbal conversation of any kind (other than reading books out loud) had not only figured out what was going on but how to remove it on his own, thereby resolving the immediate problem without any help from me. He never ceases to amaze me!
You'll have to excuse me.. I'm off to wash my hair! =)