mothers on the verge

MM's post from last week about the dreaded head lice really made me cringe. It brought back one of my defining moments of shame... Like most kids Firstborn and the Small(er) One have had their fair share of infestations which, of course, means I've had the pleasure of sharing their unwanted visitors. But while a dose of that hideous-smelling lice-killing shampoo works a treat on the kids, I'm not so fortunate (and Alpha, annoyingly, always gets off scot-free...). You see, I may hate head lice but they adore me. My hair, which is curly, abundant and usually slightly tangled, is Nirvana for any kind of creepy-crawly. They are determined to cling to this hairy paradise and no amount of chemical warfare can vanquish them. You can almost admire their tenacity except, like any tiresome kind of houseguest, they simply won't take the hint. After all, if your host or hostess tried to murder you repeatedly, surely you'd be packing your case in one hell of a hurry? So the head