A lice-Sense To Kill and I plan to use it!

Warning this is one louse-y subject

and

I’m not just nit picking either!

I was vacuuming, scratching, bagging, scratching, boiling, scratching, washing..…. EVERYTHING!

Mine and Macey’s misery began one night after bath time when I decided to braid the girl’s hair and found some unwanted visitors in Macey’s hair! Yep…..lice!

Not only do these bloodsucking hook-clawed critters bring on a Yuck factor but they tend to make one itch uncontrollably at the mere thought of them!

My older children always brought home letters when they were in elementary school that said they had been exposed to lice. However we were lucky enough never to have actually dealt with them personally, but apparently we now have louse-y luck!

After researching(obtaining my lice-sense) on the internet I immediately sent my husband to the store to get all weapons necessary to put that lice-sense to good use!!

Meanwhile I began bagging anything and everything that may or may not be able to sustain one of those critters! How long these items should remained bagged depends on which of the 300 sites you believe. It can be anywhere from 2-4 weeks; I am holding out for 5-6 myself!

As for poor miserable Macey I can pretty much guarantee she never wants to see those louse-y house guests AGAIN! I treated her hair with the toxic lice shampooing kit and comb then 3 hours later I had to release her on good behavior. For the next week I not only combed her hair for hours everyday but I even used a flat iron which gets very close to the scalp and so hot you cannot even touch the hair! Thinking NOTHING LIVES through that!

WRONG…..I am pretty sure we can add lice to the list along with the roaches and rats as survivors of a nuclear war!

Not only am I vacuuming, scratching, scrubbing,scratching, shampooing, scratching and washing EVERYTHING daily….. but I had to treat that her again(I really dislike the thought of toxic shampoo on my girl). This time I combed her hair from 6:00 until midnight!! Just in case you didn’t know lice are smaller than a sesame seed almost identical to the color of her hair and the nits(eggs) are the size of a pencil dot so being COMPLETELY STILL IS IMPERATIVE!!

Thank goodness she finally fell asleep.

After this treatment I still wasn’t quite satisfied and remembered reading about olive oil! So I dumped a bunch on her head and combed some more!

I can honestly say and those who know me will agree!!!!! My disposition would be nothing like this smiling cherub cheeked child who has been woken up midnight to be wrapped in plastic after everything else!!

I was either going to drown them in oil or suffocate them in a shower cap!!!!!

SUFFOCATE??? My imagination started running wild and I began worrying and playing the "what if?" game in my head….(after all it is midnight!)

So I rubber banded the cap around her pony tail and then remembered Rachel’s bandana and decided to tie it on to make sure it kept the plastic in place!

Just look at her giggling the whole time!

Well I wish I could say it ended here but it didn’t. I sent her to school the next day and they sent her home one hour before school let out! Apparently they have a no nit policy and she still had a couple!!!

Macey’s hair was very long and I had been avoiding cutting as she loves it sooooooooooooo much, but now I was seriously considering a buzz cut or completely shaving her head!!!! Instead I consulted a few friends, several pharmacists, a pediatric nurse and a hairdresser the consensus was, "Mayonnaise!" I did cut Macey’s hair to her shoulders (the look on her face crushed me) but this was no time for Mrs. Lice Guy so I looked away then slathered her head with mayo secured another shower cap and dew rag in place and this is how she spent the next two days!

I had all intentions of bringing down the louse!!

And bringing down the louse I did!!

PS: I figured since we were miserable already and couldn’t go to school we may as well begin potty training boot camp!! (good thing she is stuck, I mean loves her mother!

Oh I almost forgot she loves her hair cut!

And Carley loves hers too!

It’s good to have a sense of humor when you live my life!!

:-)

Grrrrrrrrrrr!

Every week in Carley's class they work on a new letter. On Monday she brings home the capital letter of that week and we cut out the pieces that comes with it then glue it to the letter. example last week was "G" and we turned it into a goose.

She also has an ABC book that she can either paste or color three pictures that begin with that letter. At the top of the page I write in highlighter 3 upper and lower case letters that Carley traces and this book is due on Thursday.

The teacher is well organized and we receive a calendar every month with the following in formation. The day they will have library, PE, computer etc.. It tells you what up coming events are in store and It also lets you know what letter they will be working on that week. Each Monday you are allowed to bring in a show and tell item that begins with the letter of that week......

When Carley arrived home yesterday we unpacked her backpack and this is what I found! I am a confused when did show and tell become homework?

GRRRRRRR...........I REALLY DISLIKE THIS BEAR!

Does this look like a bear that is saying oops? I really do not think a child deserves such a bear ESPECIALLY IF THEY DID NOT BRING IN SOMETHING FOR SHOW & TELL THAT STARTED WITH H!!!

Later that night Carley and her daddy worked on her actual "H" homework last night. They were turning her capital 'H" into a house!

Aren't they cute!

It took me all of 3 minutes to find the bear below and about 2 minutes to edit him to say

"oops I forgot my homework"!!!

Don't you think he looks like he is saying oops more than the other bear?

But I do not think this bear nor the other should be sent home with a child over

"show and tell"!

Are You Sure?

I don't have a stepford child! How Could This Be?

MaceyCarley

Just look at my Carley, her innocent face and angel like pose!

Her snaggley smile and 3 missing teeth!! The very same mouth that says "please", "thank you" and "you're so sweet"!

She is eager to learn and wants to know it all.

She believes she can do anything and does it with determination.

She is independent and insistent (even when we try to help too much).

She loves her friends and family, babies and church. She is kind and celebrates with all.

She loves to sing, play, cuddle and watch 'toons. She has quite a vocabulary and loves to talk (it's all her daddy's fault-- shush, peanut gallery..lol!!)

However Stepford she is not, Stepford she will not be and this is quite okay with me! I don't want her to always follow the pack.

This is my girl with a little sassafras!

I am really trying to keep my sense of humor at this point about school and their expectations, discipline protocol and my girl's behavior! Carley loves school and I hope that by the time we get things figured out that she still does! It seems she comes home just about everyday and tells me that she has been in Time-out, signed the "Oops Book" or is on Number 3...... They have a system of cards and after you loose a certain amount of cards, you get time-out, you could end up signing the Oops Book and at the end of the week, depending on how many cards you're missing, you could get a not-so-happy-looking bear to bring home. And then you're not allowed to buy ice cream on Friday(the only day this class allows)!! After about 2 weeks of sad face bears I put an end to those! What happen to the positive reinforcement that we talked about with the teachers and in her IEP?

A couple of weeks went by and I didn't hear much from the school. Yet Carley would come home and share tidbits of info with me...."I hit Aiden", "I didn't follow directions," "Tomorrow I will sit in my chair in the lunch room!" Well, I know my girl well enough to know that she is realizing who has control and who doesn't. She's gaining power!!!! I sent several notes requesting information, phone calls, etc. because I wanted to discuss these issues. I was worried things would escalate. I even stopped by the school and told the teachers directly that I really needed a call as soon as possible to talk about Carley and her behavior. But I received no response at all!?!?

Two weeks later Carley got on the bus and immediately ran to the back of the bus instead of going to her seat. Once the assistant got her in her seat, I stepped on the bus and said, "Carley you know that you are not supposed to do that. I hope you are going to make better choices the rest of the day!" She said, "Yes mama, I'm sorry, I will make better choices."

Well, what do you know I got a call from the school that day around noon....... guess who wasn't making better choices? Her teacher said that Carley was all of a sudden running away from adults and we needed to have a conference to talk about her behavior...... DO YOU THINK?? I've only been wanting to address this for over a month!

(Carley has never been a runner, hmmm, think maybe she is figuring out how powerful she is?) However I was good, I bit my tongue (I bet I have a scar) and agreed to the conference. It amazes me it took them so long to follow through, but I guess the running scared them!

So far I have had two conferences with them and it seems every time I ask the teacher if there could be an underlying issue with Carley, like maybe she didn't understand fully, the task was too difficult or it was taking her longer to process the information....... the answer is always immediately "NO". "Oh no, she understands", "she can do it", etc!!

Well this was our 9th week of school . On Monday my girl came home andnonchalantly said, "Mom, I am on 3". I asked why and she told me (it really didn't seem worth a 3 but its not my class). At this point I have to wonder if she is already on 3 on Monday, what would be the point of trying to be good the rest of the week? It's too late to get a happy face bear or to buy ice cream and there certainly isn't any other positive reinforcement to work towards?!?!

But our week did not end there! Friday she came home and told me she was in time-out, but she was in her Center?? I couldn't figure it out so I said, enough is enough!! I call her SpEd teacher who already had gone for the day. So I asked for her kindergarten teacher... who gave me the same reply "No she understands" etc! I politely said, "I have never had Carley act this way, nor have we had such a consistent behavior issue. I would like to observe her for several days." She hesitated a moment, but agreed.

I just wish there was a way to observe without her seeing me! So I talked with Carley this weekend how I was coming in several days to watch her class and school, but I would not be talking or helping in any way. A mother has to do what a mother has to do even when she really doesn't want to! There has to be more to the situation.

But for the record I'm glad my girl is not a Stepford child and has a little spunk!!

I just wish she wouldn't show so much of it so often! ;-)

Full Of Life

Or could it be "Life is full"?

I have tried so many times to sit and update this blog only to throw my hands in the air frustrated with my computer and not knowing where! So I am going to attempt to throw out an abbreviated version of "As The Saunders Turn!"


On The Home Front
I mentioned in a couple of earlier post about some projects for our Sanity of the SS......
Well lets just say that the projects are moving......... but SLOOOOOOOOOWLY!!!!
And yes my plans were big and we have had to scale them down a bit.... at least for now!



Hilton Vacation.......



THE "GET AWAY" PLACE:
Robbie's family has a cottage on the Albamarle sound that they built when Rob was about 13. It's a great place to just relax, have a little fun and hang out. We usually spend our days in nothing but suntan lotion and bathing suits! Its also a place I feel comfortable giving the girls some freedom to explore the water and beach not to mention they think this place is awesome! They love the beach, water,swimming, practicing their jumps from the barrier wall and riding on the seadoo!

At night we usually retire to our PJ's spend some family time together and maybe even play a few games. The real unique thing about this cottage is there is no phones and a simple TV antennae on top of the house! Remember those days when you could only get 3 stations? Yep that was our cottage until this summer when all the networks went digital so we ended up having to get cable.


Now for the rest of our glamorous life!(Bawhahaha!) And if you think we have a glamorous life I have a bridge I want to sell!

We really need to start planning our vacations better cause this year it seems we took several big ones where as last year we didn't even have one! Usually our life is just hanging out around the house, with family, going to a few local events that might pop up or just playing in the back yard.......then all of a sudden ........summer is over!



Whew this was harder than I thought! But I at least got through the summer!!

Hallucinations? OR Not? (Update II)

I live with a bunch of loons and NO , "I am NOT the loon leader!


Rachel seems to suffer from hallucinations from time to time........



It would also seem that more than one person in our family suffers with these hallucinations!



Apparently this video not only cracks me up but Rachel too.
We are in the house filming hoping to remain unnoticed and trying to keep Carley quiet too!

OKAY I CONFESS

They aren't really hallucinating.

This is the second year we have had cicada killers in our yard and they are next to impossible to get rid of! They burrow in the ground, kill the grass and fly around making your skin crawl. The good news is that they don't sting (only the queen, who is usually not around) which is why we can swing tennis rackets at them as if it were a game. The bad news is they apparently have super powers and do not die or leave your yard easily. Once you hit one with a racket you had better run over, stomp on it repeatedly then smashing and twisting them into the ground and then you might be able to claim their death!