Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The Chosen Ones

We recently had friends who had an infestation of bed bugs ... yes, nasty blood-sucking little pests! My friend went into her baby's bedroom when he was crying uncharacteristically at night and found them crawling all over him! They've babysat for me once or twice and Isaac had a few too many 'insect bites' lately, so I went crazy (as all moms do) and washed everything out and bagged up all his stuffed animals. It turns out we're clean, but Isaac had a fit .. all his favorite blankets and stuffed animals were nowhere to be seen! How could I expect him to sleep without all his 'chosen' friends! Exhaustion prevailed finally and he did sleep, but when all was restored to him, he wouldn't let it out of his sight for the day!



Incidentally, bed bugs are making a 'comeback' all over the USA. They were almost eliminated back when DDT was in use, but since then infestations have shown up all over the USA, especially in college and university dorms. Cleanliness has nothing to do with it, you can get them simply by being in a hotel room that has one or two and bringing them home in a suitcase. Crazy! If you don't have the hebbie jeebies by now, take a look at the following picture! This is one reason it pays off to stay at a nicer hotel, who wants stowaways anyhow!!

3 comments:

  1. oh grooooooooooossssss this is the stuff of my nightmares. irene and i just listened to an awful, AWFUL episode of "This American Life" that had a segment on bedbugs and a family that had been infested by them. If you really want a good horror story, you should listen to this episode. It was one of the worst stories I've ever heard in my LIFE. Anyway, I am really freaked out by this phenomenon of bedbugs and hope that I will NEVER, ever, ever be cursed by them. They seem impossible to get rid of. Knock on wood.

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  2. That is a cute story, but the bugs are not so cute.

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