Underfoot

When buying toys there are many things to think about, but until you become a parent you generally don't spend much time thinking about what said toy will feel like when you step on it.  Admittedly even when I was first looking at toys for my son the chief concern was if he might hurt himself with said toy.  In the beginning everything was made of fabric or very squish-able rubber with no sharp edges.  For a long while he would try to mash toys into himself and during that time the only toys he had access to were made of brightly colored fabric.

My son has lots of toys.  (Thanks to some very enthusiastic friends and family.*) You know, toys you might trip on in a dark room, not toys you might impale yourself on.  But being home with my son all day and not being a baby myself, I started to look into toys that were both age appropriate for my son and mildly interesting to me.

So we got some Duplo Legos for my son.  I always had fond memories of Legos from when I was younger,  I figured a bigger version of the same thing would be a good time all around.  And it was, I would build something and my son would industriously take it apart and hand me the pieces and we would begin again.  The things I made that my son liked best were things that came apart easily.  So I would connect them by one or two circles rather than the full four or more that a piece had to offer.

We had a great time.

But like all things my son is allowed to play with, we quickly found Duplo bricks in unexpected places.  Yes there were two areas in the house where my son and I would play with Duplo.  However when my son is done being in one place he doesn't always drop the corresponding toys before wandering off to what ever he has determined to be next.

Fast forward a couple weeks and my efforts to put the Duplos back in there plastic box when we are done playing have been solidly thwarted.  There are now Duplo bricks in most rooms of our house, which is dangerous, not so much for him,  (He doesn't pick his feet up very high when he's walking, unless he's marching.)  but for everyone else.  My son also has the advantage of having a chance of knowing where these plastic caltrops are, as he is the one who dropped them to begin with.  I not being blessed with omnipotence find myself needing to turn lights on when entering rooms (no matter how briefly I think I will be there) and scanning for the brightly colored bricks.  But caution is occasionally thrown to the wind when I'm in a hurry, and that's when they embed themselves into the sole of my foot.

*I'm the oldest child my parents had, and my husband is an only child.  So our son is the only source of family baby photos that are actually current.  So even family members who we weren't on the best of terms with us when we first moved out, are excited to see more of our son.