Worm Hole

Every once in a while, a father has a bonding experience with his son like no other.

Daniel had been complaining about an itchy bottom for a few days that eventually required some action. At first, I tried to assuage him with a topical joke about the woman with a dog named Itchybottom. When the dog escaped off the leash and went running down the street, the poor woman cried, "My Itchybottom, My Itchybottom!" Until finally her neighbor exclaimed, "Well for goodness sakes, lady...scratch it!" He got a kick out of the punchline but my plan to have him laugh his butt off didn't work. A more sensible motherly intervention was required.

A trip to the doctor suggested we test for pin worms. Apparently, pin worms live inside your intestines and come out at night to lay their eggs before retreating in the morning. (Let's just say they leave through the back door and lay their eggs in the back yard.)

Here's where the fatherly task came in, a task a mother need not even dare. After prepping him for what to expect before he went to sleep, I returned for a 5:00 am launch time. Under the cover of darkness, I woke him, peeled back the covers, and lowered his pajama bottoms. Next, I had to turn his full moon into two half moons and take a sticky swab and...well...swab. The tricky part was to swab in the correct location in the pitch dark and with minimal movement because, apparently, these worms will quickly retreat if they sense the presence of parents wielding sticky swabs. And since there was no way I could visually confirm a proper splashdown, I had to have him confirm my mission had been accomplished. A morning inspection of the test tube by Nurse Mom identified the intruders which meant return trips to the moon were not necessary.

A simple prescription and he is now worm-free.