Hi Amy,

As if you don't have enough to worry about, one more
serious issue in a house with older people that is
disorganized is medications. My grandmother once
gave us a serious scare when DS was under a year (but
crawling and putting things in his mouth). A pill
dropped out of her pocket while she was visiting, and
landed on our couch. Fortunately, I found it while
cleaning up, but I was totally freaked that there may
have been another one that DS found before I did.
(Turns out it was a ritalin pill. Grandma has ADD.)

Things I learned from the experience:

1. Older people sometimes leave pill containers open
because the childproof tops can be hard on arthritic
hands. (My grandma goes a step further and sometimes
carries pills loose in her pocket.)

2. Blood pressure medicine (and probably others as well)
can have serious even fatal consequences in infants.

3. Cleaning up play spaces nightly can help prevent
disasters (not that I keep up with this always, but
it's still something I learned ^_^.

4. The folks at the poison control center are very
nice, very sensible and very calm.

5. All medications have identifying codes on them,
which the folks at the poison control center can look
up.

Best of luck to you. Oh, and btw, from what I hear,
the carpet at your parents' house is more likely to
prevent allergies in your baby than cause them.
--
Emily
mom to Toby 5/1/02
Scheherazade, stillborn at 20 weeks, 3/2/04