We've all done this. And I dare say that those of us that are parents have stepped on even more than our fair share of nighttime obstacles. Those sweet delights of our daytime eyes love nothing more than leaving seemingly innocent objects in our nighttime paths.
Legos. Those I have decided are by far the worst. A Lego piece properly stepped upon can slice right through the foot. I speak from experience. Actually, multiple experiences. (I never claimed to be a fast learner.) But any hard plastic toy can be deadly in the middle of the night. And while I think I have good children, I also readily admit to having messy children. It is deadly in their rooms after dark.
One child loves to rearrange. Daily. I am not exaggerating. Every day his room is configured differently. I don't even go in there at night. If he needs me, I call to him from the doorway. I fell over the open footrest of his recliner one night. (Yes, he drug an old soon-to-be discarded recliner into his room.) That type of experience will teach even a hard head like me to stay out.
We do this to ourselves as well. Who was the genius that decided that wooden storage chests with sharp edges made great items for the foot of a bed? And why are the legs of beds made of such a hard material? I say coat them in that lovely memory foam like we have topping our beds these days. Now that would make my nighttime sojourns far less menacing.I don't know what the true solution is. Our family will never be the sort to have a perfectly picked-up house before bed. That answer is definitely out. They make glow-in-the dark nail polish. Maybe they could just kick it up a notch and have the toenails actually emit light. That might help me.
Or maybe not. Honestly, I trip and fall in the bright daylight just as much. Once, I was carrying a laundry basket through my kitchen. It was somewhat blocking my view of what was soon to be under my feet. I soon fell right over one of those little popping toys on a stick that kids love to push around. As I landed with a thud and a cry of pain in the middle of my kitchen floor, my then three year old came rushing to console me. "Don't worry, Mommy", he said. "The toy isn't broken."
No, mommy's foot was though.Thank God for calcium supplements, It's hard to tell what I'll trip over tonight.
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90 comments:
When you figure out a way to make the house safe at night (or any other time of day) please let me know.
In my part of the south there's a saying, "Walk like a Stidham" and it's NOT a compliment. I am from a long line of Stidhams so at least I come by it honestly. I have the klutz gene deeply imbedded in my DNA.
My friend sliced the bottom of her foot open from stepping on a lego a few weeks ago. Yikes!
legos unleashed! I have banned legos in our house. those are some pretty great pictures, I especially like the path to the bed throught he legos. Very artistic.
OUCH!
Not long ago - I rose at 3 am to go to the bathroom, I saw the light in the back of the house was on, so walked back there to turn it off and stepped on a nail...
It hurt pretty bad, and I woke everyone in the house with my howls and I went to the ER as it was pretty deep.
Then I talked to the contractors who were working on my back porch and they paid for the medical... still when our feet are attacked in the night in our own home, it is unsetteling!
Hey, Have you been spying on me? Are you sure this isn't about me?!
I love Legos, but I also hate stepping on them!
Hee hee. Funny post! It made me laugh! Legos are terrible...I step on the things all the time. I espeically like the earth tone colored ones...the blend into the carpet so nicely.
And last night, in my son's room, I stepped on a light saber. The force better be strong with this one...'cause he has some major room cleaning to do today.
Ouch! I have often told my girls to go to their rooms and find something for me... Their Carpet!! :D
I love when legos go in time out--then I don't step on them.
I know the feeling but around here, children need to stay away from my apartment. Among other things, I think I have a screw that fell from my table (?) which isn't broken and I keep vacuuming around the screw because I don't know where it's from but I think it will get stuck in my vacuum cleaner. It's rather big and it hurts when I step on it. What do you think, should I pick it up? :-)
I've seen slippers with little lamps in the front but I think the best thing is to just wear really thick soles.
I personally love hot wheels on the stairs. It's like a quick trip to a broken tailbone.
Wait, that photo of the legos was taken at MY house wasn't it???
Not only do I always step on Legos, but I usually slip down the last couple of steps carrying laundry, or most recently I ripped my pinky toenail off when I stubbed my toe....sigh
Oh, I remember those days of treading lightly when I ventured into the girls room in the dark. These days I more have to worry about stepping on the dogs nyla bone in the middle of the night. :)
Do you have a camera hidden in my house..we are past legos but a multitude of shows and belt are almost as dangerous.
xx
This is so true. I try and clear a path or clean things up. For some reason my little one seems to find ways to put some stuff on my bedroom floor and I do find them. Ouch..
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Between the toys and the dog that is always underfoot, it is amazing I'm not in a cast.
LOL!!! That is so true, Debbie!!!!! It can be a war zone in the night time!!
I got shivers reading this. Walking into the corner of the dishwasher door is another one that makes me weak.
My feet are particularly fond of metal toy airplanes in the middle of the night. That followed by the few random rabbit pellets. Squishy pain.
Ouch, been there on the falling over toys. It's lovely, not really.
One of my best friends got married about 7 years ago. She called me two days before the wedding and told me not to freak out, but she had an accident and had tripped on the rug in the living room, and face planted into the glass coffee table.
She had the biggest gash all the way from her chin to her nose. And yet, she was the happied bride I've ever seen, even with the crappiest pictures.
I learned a great lesson from her strength and attitude. Watch the hell where you're going!
You might just be the one to come up with a solution. Mine? When the kids were little, I would help them clean up the legos only to find more and more everywhere. Frustrating.
p.s. it took a bit of time for me to get the comment box; but here I'm.
I had a couple years of "safety" (sort of) with respect to toys and junk on the floor after my own kids grew up and moved out. Now, I'm back to the constant rubble on the floor -every floor in the house -with my two little grandkids and their ability to drag every conceivable toy imaginable out and leave it lay on the floor but not able to pick it up because they are playing with it. Whatever. The castors on the bedrails are the things that really seem to do my feet in quite often. I agree that memory foam could surely be put to good use in the protective covering department, couldn't it?
Just call me "Day Tripper, Night Tripper". I'm always falling over something.
The publicist falls all the time too. Although sometimes she is helped along the way by a butt from Michael the goat. She does not like that....
Ow. The lego.
Oh Wow! Mine is still a baby so at night i through everything we own in her play pen.
However, I have suffered mild heart attacks from toys that go "woo hoo!" in the middle of the night.
OUCH!
I have gotten into the habit of shuffling across the floor in Princess Nagger's room - since we have wood floors, it's easy and I don't then shock her when I reach her... :) But every so often I let my guard down and end up stepping on something painful. Or trip and do a face plant that she finds quite hilarious. :)
The hubby is trying to teach my little darlings to keep a clean path to the laundry room. I'm not sure if He's taking care of me or if He just wants his laundry done????
I like to pretend I'm Jack Bauer as I go through the house at night leaping and dodging to avoid the threats. It doesn't change the likelihood that I'll kill myself, but it makes it a little more fun :)
It is because of stories like this that I do make the kids pick up their toys at night and I pick up my living room! I have enough of a time just trying to get through the day without smacking into doorknobs or tripping over my own feet
It would really hurt to step on those leggos barefooted!
Debbie, would you consider adding my new blog to your reading list(blog roll)? I have "Suburb Sanity" on mine. Sorry to ask here but no email 4 u .
Thanks, Secretia
I don't even HAVE kids yet and I can relate. Sheer klutz over here :)
Isn't it amazing? I am the worst kind of klutz: the occasional. I go a long time without a major TNF (trip -n- fall) so I forget to be careful, then BAM! Then, I'm terrified for a few months. Yikes!
my husban d is cleanliness freak and i have become one in his company....
my house is clean like a 5 star hotel before the end of day..
and it gets messy a lot..as my girls have privileges to do whatever they want..
shraddha
oh my, i can relate. i am thrilled my son finally took down his 5 foot tall knex rollercoaster. that thing was heck on the toes at night.
Ahhhhh....with three boys and millions (or so it feels like) of toys, I can relate to this post!!!! I am constantly picking things up off of the floor.
I have to say that the bed thingys (what do you call those?) are the worst- I am constantly slicing up my toes while making the beds. Hmmmmm.....maybe this means that I should stop making them? I'm going to hang on to that theory, LOL!
EVERY mommy knows exactly what you are talking about! How we survived is another thing ... something which we can't understand. I hope that you heal quickly. ♥
Boomer
Does it worry you that you and I share a brain?
I wrote about a messy house today. And boy, can I relate to the perils of falling.
Also, its total entertainment value. Sadly, that's the best part for me.
Legos are the very, very worst! And they seem to multiply overnight... and move around the house.
Ugh. I feel you pain.
xo
I got the brilliant idea of sorting my huge box of pictures, stacking them in piles chronologically after they'd been dated....and then I left them there.
Needless to say, my neat little piles are now strewn all over the damn floor.
::sigh::
And as for messy rooms...I'm thinking my daughter is the all-time champ.
Her room is tiny and filled to the brim...literally.
Night-light toe nail polish...I must have it. Surely they are working on it, right??
My "worst toy to step on" award goes to Hot Wheels! Those things are the devil...especially when they are laid out in "train" fashion & you just keep stepping on one...after another...after another! ARGH!
Been there and done that!
Sorry.
Ha! I was just looking at a bruise on my leg and thinking how I always seem to have one of those - I tend to run into things - the coffee table, the door, the wall, the rocking chair, ... ;) Silke
For me it's the GD bouncy seat. I swear I NAIL my toe on the feet of it all the time. I curse my head off!
OW!
And whoever thought it was a good idea to build bed frame legs so close to the edge of the bed is a dumb ass (can I say that here?). Anyway, the engineers behind that must have been taking drugs at the time.
Truly laughing out loud - although not at your pain, just because I have stepped on so many night time obstacles. And taken a dive over a misplaced laundry basket.
And Lego's suck.
Remember 'Jackx?'
Ouch!! I used to always be stepping on my brothers legos. No fun!
wow, as a kid, I stepped on my brothers legos, and as an adult I step on my son's legos, I swear if you could break the arch of you foot, then I have done it countless times!
I shouldn't be laughing, but that was kinda funny. Hope the foot's ok! Lego's are evil, and so are them Matchbox cars. Sometimes I wish my feet were made of steel.. sigh.
My toes curl at the sight of the word Legos. I so hear you on this one. May some steel-toed bed socks would help us out.
My husband actually has a nightly ritual of walking through the house and clearing potential foot pain causing things out of the way. He still manages to kick the bed at least once a month though. If you ever solve that problem, you'll have to let us know!
LOL! I totally agree with you about LEGO - it's lethal! Oh, and marbles on the floor or staircase.. it's a wonder we parent survive parenthood! ;-)
I've been browsing and I loved what I saw. yOur writing is amazing!!
Thank you.
At night I'm blind as a bat; I've even sat on people in movie theaters.
You are so right about the Legos. They're worse than sandspurs.
I clicked on your page and when the foot picture came up it was like a message from above! JUST last night I stepped on a discarded beef marrow bone that one of my dogs left around. Not ME, my dogs. And it sliced RIGHT through the arch of my foot.
I had every disinfectant on that cut. I think I even, in a panic, wiped it with a Lysol kitchen wipe. And I went to bed thinking "so, this is it. I'm gonna die from a mad cow foot infection. This is how I'm gonna go.....Oh well, maybe in death, I will make it on Oprah's 'sweeps' episode "DANGER in the house!"
Oh man, I've so been there! I've stepped on everything from tiny legos to hot wheels cars that were left in the perfect position to actually puncture the skin on the underside of my foot (I think I even did a post about it once).
And you know what? The kids never ever seem to step on them. I find that rather amazing.
Legos--the bane of my existence!!!! Love this post!!! But please, do take care of yourself!!!! Oh, and love, love, love the new header thingie!!! Great work!!! Have missed you!!~Janine XO
Yowza, the soft instep of my feet hurt just thinking about it -- remembering it more times than I can count. Probably if we sent Legos over to Afghanistan and tossed them around like grenades, we could "win" the war. Yeah, that's the ticket. The new IED: Instep Excrutiative Devices.
That last pic is hilarious! I don't have kids and this is still an issue for me.
When I fall---I REALLY fall! One night, while going into my son's bedroom in the dark, I stepped on something, so I threw myself over to pick it up, and whacked my head on the edge of a paint easel---the sharp part----I saw stars and immediately felt the wet stuff flowing down my face...
Had to go to the hospital---and then back again because they thought that I had fractured my skull....
The dogs enjoy leaving pieces of kibble scattered strategically in my barefoot path. HARD SHARP KIBBLE. They are trying to kill me for my money.
I once stepped down into my garage and my foot landed on a toy, twisted sideways and I tore all of the ligaments on the top of my foot! I have learned the hard way to always be on the lookout for misplaced toys.
After reading all these comments about the dangers of legos I'm feeling a little guilty about all the lego kits I've given over the years! Definitely going to make sure my house is a lego-free zone!
Ha! I teach 5 year olds. If I had a dollar for every bit of lego I have ever stood on....!
Hope your foot feels better! Funny post :-)
Hey, you all need a Lego mat like the one I made for a friend with two little boys. It was her idea and I executed it, and she says it works perfectly (almost a year now). I sewed up a double-sided denim round, about 3 ft. diameter, put grommets all the way around the outside and threaded a cord through the grommets. The boys play with the Legos on the mat, and when they are done, they pull the drawstring and all the Legos are contained in the sack. She says her boys actually keep them picked up now.
OMG. This is so true - Legos are the absolute worse. They are also a terrible choking hazard as I found out the hard way. I am not exaggerating when I say that I am the biggest Klutz ever! I had an elbow replacement surgery due to falling off a curb because I wasn't watching where I was going. Next life I want to be born with grace and poise.
Oh lady, ME TOO.
I trip all the time, and step on legos, all the time. sheesh.
I've let out many a screech over those darned legos and such but now the floor is clean as the kiddos are grown and gone. Now I just have to watch for The Hubby's size 13's lurking around ever corner.
Maybe this is why I wear shoes in the house even though my boys have to have a no shoes policy.
aww I am so sorry! I hate stepping on legos and I remember running into my brothers bed when I was in hs and him and my mom laughing at me. Next day I had the biggest bruise ever!
My feet will never be the same after all those years of all those Legos! What true to life pictures!
Congrats on your Sits day to shine:)
I think I STILL have frickin indents on my feet from old Lego injuries. And probably a lot from Power Ranger Action Figures.
And WHY do they (or did they?) make high chairs with back legs that protruded out into the walking area? I bet by now I'm down to just 3 good toes.
Not looking forward to legos. I stepped on a high-heeled Barbie show this weekend that was upside down. Not fun.
Hilarious blog! Stopping by from SITS.
If I am not stepping on toys it is animals. Why won't they just move when they see me coming??
Happy SITS day!
Just last night I stepped on the most painful guitar in the history of mankind. It tore into my foot and I whimpered like a baby. And I promised myself NEVER to go in the room again for a kiss after he was sleeping. And then 10 minutes later I broke the promise and went right in. I love that kid. : ) Thank the good Lord he does not like legos. I can only imagine how I would feel then!
Yes, legos hurt but ya know what hurts worse than legos??
ARMY MEN....ARMY MEN WITH GUNS!
OUCH
Oh, legos are the worst thing to step on...ever!!! Ya know what else is bad? Lincoln logs!
Yeah, legos are the WORST. Those things are lethal! Funny you blogged about this. I took a bath, was all relaxed and stuff--my kids were in bed, my husband was waiting for me and WHAM I jammed my toe into the camera tripod one of my teens had left in the hallway. I'm bleeding and trying to get something to put on it. Geesh, talk about ruining my relaxation!
Yes, Lego are quite the manace, but the metal airplanes that can fit in the palm of your hand are a nightmare. Ugh.
Haha! That's why I started shuffling my feet! You know, like in the ocean when you're trying to avoid stingrays! :o)
Wow, your blog rocks! Lord knows I've stepped on my fair share of lego's and barbie shoes are the worse!!!!!
They've already sugar-coated playgrounds to eliminate the possibility of splinters, scrapes and burns (you remember those hot metal slides!) I guess beds are next (though logically I think they should have come first...)
I both curse and praise the inventor of Lego. Playtime hours = Priceless. Injured feet = pay me an even mil and I'll be content.
OMG that is my life. I hate lego! And Evie must pick up the floor of her room so that I have a clear path from the door to her bed every night - otherwise I won't go in :) Hope your foot is feeling better!
Gotta love the Legos - or hate em. My son is a clotheshorse and loves to change clothes at any chance he gets. If ever kidnapped his Amber Alert would be labeled "He's probably in the layered look just in case the weather changes". Love this post. Thanks for the comment the other day. I wish I could lose weight that way too!
My best, Lynn
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