The Lego Infestation

Have you ever had ants in your house?

When we lived in California, there were always a few times each year that we'd get a steady stream of ants from our patio into our kitchen. Some people claimed that the ants were coming in to seek water. Which, given the desert that we lived in, made sense, if it was true. But whatever the reason that we were inunudated, we had to deal with the problem. That usually required some spraying, some ant traps and some vigilance. Usually that took care of most of them, but we always seemed to miss a few stragglers. So annoying.

Well. We may not have the same trouble with ants here in Tennessee, but we do have another minor scourge that we can't seem to keep fully contained. That's right. I'm talking about Legoes. (Legos? Lego bricks? Whatever.)

I'm here to tell you that it is nearly impossible to contain a Lego outbreak. It is insidious.

Yesterday, I had to wrestle Andrew to get a Lego minifigure helmet out of his hand. He objected. Loudly. Last week, I had to fish a tiny Star Wars Lego lightsaber out of his mouth. And this is all after David and William did a full sweep through the house and picked up Legoes from the floor of every room in the house. (Seriously. They were in every room in the house, save for Andrew's room. And I wouldn't swear in court that it's entirely Lego-free either.) They piled Lego bricks in bags and bins and boxes. They put Lego creations on the tops of shelves and tables. They tried to keep all the new Christmas-stocking Lego toys contained to either William's room or the playroom.

But every time I started to think, "Okay. We've finally got all the Lego stuff put away out of Andrew's reach," then I'd stumble across a tiny little piece embedded in the carpet somewhere. Or tucked away in a basket of toys on the floor. Or hiding beneath the plastic dishes in the toy kitchen in the family room. Or hanging out behind a chair that Andrew can easily crawl under.

It is nearly impossible to eradicate Legoes from one's house, once you are infected...er, infested...er, overrun....er, inundated with them. The best I can do is to just keep my eyes open for them and try to get to them before Andrew does.

Also, I am thinking about getting out my DustBuster and vacuuming up any stragglers. No prisoners. Survival of the fittest, that's how I see this.