Carpet Pad

I don't know if you will recall we had a burst pipe three weeks ago. Luckily, we rent. So the dudes came and ripped up the carpet and put fans under it and punched a hole in the ceiling and pointed a fan at that, too, and then they brought this enormous heat lamp and aimed it somewhere in our bedroom. It was 105 degrees in there, and so we turned off the heat (yo, geniuses) and slept in the guest room.

Again.

Today, they came back to repair the hole they'd punched, and painted various things. There was a new layer of dust on everything, and I do not know why. Why is painting dust-causing? There is no dust in paint! I do not understand.

In this process, they've ripped up the carpet, both upstairs and down, and taken out the carpet pad, which was wet. They allegedly disposed of it, but Ari and I keep finding pieces of it. We are both terrified. The first time he saw a piece, he pointed at it and said, almost in tears, "Mommy, make that go away!"

I swooped in like the heroic mommy I am, only to find that I was equally terrified. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't like the colors. I didn't like the texture or the shape or the size. I was yucked. I said to Ari. "Bunny, let's just go upstairs. We'll wait 'til other mommy gets home to deal with it."

I have since learned two things:
1) It is carpet pad.
2) B is not afraid.

Thank goodness! Because this carpet, I forgot to mention, was new--installed maybe two months before the pipe burst. So, we've been exposed to carpet pad 2x. Left over from the install, and ripped up from the pipe.

Ari and I are beside ourselves. B is undisturbed. How can this be?

"How are you so brave?" I ask her, in awe. "Are you human?"

Maybe it's genetic. Great. I gave my kid carpet pad phobia.

Whenever Ari sees a piece, he freezes, which he almost never ever does (ADHD) and gets teary. I squeal like a little girl and leap into the air, usually spilling something. B, because she is awesome, always comes and removes it, but today! She put it on the counter instead of what I asked her to do, which was to put it at the bottom of a long, dark tunnel where I shall never happen upon it. When I saw it again, I almost punched her. You have no idea the fear, I tell you. I have nightmares. Here is a picture:

Maybe you'd be scared, too?