Blistering Hot

My friend Nickie and I decided to take our kids to a nearby park this last Wednesday. It was a beautiful day and the kids had fun when we took them there the other week, it was just too cold and windy that day to enjoy the Splashland section of the park. So we headed over and found a pretty ideal location to enjoy the afternoon in. The kids were immediately interested in playing in the water; so on went the swimsuits and sunblock, and off ran the children.

I stuffed their clothing into the bottom of the stroller and then began scanning the water area for the kids. I had asked Heath to make sure to stay close to Wade the whole time, but he's only five and I wasn't sure how well those instructions would be followed. As I was trying to determine if the little boy wondering across the park was Wade or not I registered the sound of child's scream nearby (a normal sound at such a large park.) This intensified my determination to quickly spot any of my children. At last I determined the child in question was not mine, and turned my head to see what was wrong with the poor child who was still screaming, where was that kid's mom?

Shock ran through my body as I discovered that the child screaming was my very own Wade just 15 feet away in the opposite direction of the water park. Surrounded by a half-circle of concerned on-lookers he was staring at me in complete desperation. I raced over calling out if anyone knew what was wrong. A mother standing behind him explained that his feet were burning on the foam padding surrounding the playground area, I hadn't put his sandals back on before he ran off for the water. I quickly picked him up and took him back into the shade and put his feet on a cold water bottle. He sat trembling in my lap letting the water bottle cool his feet. But then it started to get worse. After a couple other attempts at comfort I could tell the bottom of his feet were going to blister. Nickie kindly offered to watch Heath and Charlie and I took Wade down the street to my sister-in-law Kodie's house, screaming the whole way. After some love, doctoring, Little Einsteins, and a nap Wade began feeling better. He happily tagged along the rest of the day as usually, we just had to carry him everywhere as he would kindly remind us in his sweet little voice, "I can't walk."



He loved having his feet wrapped up that night in band-aid socks.


The next morning things were already looking better, and he was back to trying to keep up with Heath.


My friend and I had several moms come over to us at the park and mention the same thing happened to them or someone else just ten minutes earlier. I felt awful for not making the kids wait and put their shoes back on, I should have known Wade would be eager to return to the playground. I do have one plea, if you're at a park and you notice that a child is screaming because they are standing on a hot surface and they can't figure out what is wrong, instead of standing next to them in concern (or judgement), please pick them up and move them off the scorching surface.