The unspeakables

First it was just grumpiness.
We put it down to her being just-three.
But it went on...
So we thought she must be coming down with something.
Then she got really fussy about her food.
Plus whining a whole lot more.
And tantrumming.
And night waking.
And then one night as I was putting her to bed, the dreaded words... "my bottom itches."
A friend had told me that day that she had just treated her kids.
Another had treated hers the week before.
So we headed straight to the pharmacy.
And it life got much better.
But we only treated her.
Because it hadn't been that long since the whole family had been double-dosed.
And then her older sister's tantrums grew.
And nightwaking.
And school-refusing-three-hour-biting-screaming-tantrums.
And we thought it couldn't possibly be the unspeakables.
This behaviour was just SO extreme.
Her face pale.
Dark rings under her eyes.
Angry and oppositional.
Wore her uniform (after we spent three hours getting her into it) day and night for a week.
It couldn't be worms.
Could it?
Really?
This is insane.
There has to be something bigger wrong with her.
And I thought about the post I wrote.
Proclaiming this miracle cure we had found.
And how thousands of mothers around the world had read it.
And I worried that it had just been coincidence.
That I would have to write a retraction... "sorry folks, it wasn't really worms..."
We had never had any physical proof that the unspeakables were really there.
We had to hold off on treatment for a few days - long car trips meant the side effects of the treatments were less desirable than the unbearable tantrumming.
And then we treated her.
One tiny tablet.
And four days later our girl was back.
Rosy cheeks, dark circles gone. Loving, happy, relaxed. Sleeping deeply. Skipping to school.
It really is her... our... miracle cure.
We have all just taken the second dose again... the moment I heard those infamous words "my bottom itches".

No idea what I'm talking about - read here...