Friday, April 18, 2008

Typhoid Mary

A couple of days ago I was tucking the girls into bed when I noticed something in Claire’s hair. I thought that I had felt sand in her hair a few days before that and this time I was thinking that maybe it was crusted food. That didn’t make any sense though, since she had just had her bath and washed her hair. I pulled the loose debris from her hair and checked to see if it was a tick. Thank God I didn’t find any bugs on her head but I did find a large BALD SPOT.

Katie was standing right behind me, curious about my sudden preoccupation with her sister’s head.
Claire- “What IS it?”
Katie- “Um, it’s big and round and WHITE.”
Claire- “Am I going bald?”
Me- “Well, we might consider investing in a hat.”

She is being treated for ringworm which despite the disgusting name, is simply a common fungal infection in kids. I’m sure the fact that her immune system was suppressed by a course of steroids a couple of weeks ago didn’t help. Claire keeps getting confused about what exactly is on her head and she says that she has “brainworm.” She is also amused by the fact that it is contagious. I think I must have described something she touched as being contaminated at some point. She uses that to torment Katie and attempt to mark her territory. Yesterday she was sitting in a favorite chair and announced, “You can’t sit here, Katie. Now the chair is LAMINATED!”

Katie attempted to get even with Claire for all the threats of contamination. She called Claire saying, "Hey, c'mere Ringworm!"

There was a little boy at school that kept touching her head and she kept warning him that she was contagious. He didn’t seem concerned and kept touching her anyway. It just made me think about the fact that she might have caught it from a classmate.
Me- “Does anyone else in your class have ringworm?”
Claire- “No. But James is going to have it.”

3 comments:

J. said...

That is too freakin' funny! Claire should go around licking everything she doesn't want her sister to touch, or maybe tell Katie and James to be careful or their hair will fall out!

Anonymous said...

At least they understand the concept of contagiousness now rather than later. I like "brainworm"; it explains what must have happened to much of the population developmentally! I'm sure it will leave your house intellectually unscathed though.

Super Mommie said...

Oh no!! The chair is laminated!! You need to just tape them for a 30 minute comedy show.