Monday, September 04, 2006

Extreme Vacuuming

Alexander has always enjoyed the vacuum. Even when he was barely crawling, he would scream out in delight whenever we pulled the vacuum out. As he got older, he would let out his typical battle cry and run towards the storage closet where the vacuum is kept whenever it was mentioned that it needed to be done.

Even now, it's not a promise to visit Dairy Queen or McDonald's that gets his attention, but a promise that he and Daddy will get to vacuum. While I'm vacuuming, there are three main activites that occur.

1) Alexander runs up and down the hallway screaming in delight

2) Alexander follows along doing his own vacuuming with Dusty, a toy vacuum that he got last Christmas (one of his favourite toys, of course)

3) Alexander works hard at moving objects (the footstool, his toybox, book basket, etc) out of the way so I can properly get behind spots.

And at the end of each and every vacumming session, as I'm trying to unplug the vacuum and put it away, he points out "spots that I've missed" -- of course, there's never anything there, it's just a wonderful stalling tactic so we can continue with his favourite past-time. Sigh.

Recently, he's taken the sport to a new level, enjoying taking Dusty onto the stairs and doing acrobatic stair vacuuming. And the other morning while Fran and I were laying in bed, he dragged Dusty over and pulled him into the bed and tried to vacuum us. The funniest part about it, of course has to do with a series of random phrases that Dusty mutters, because just as he was rolling across my chest, he started to choke and say that he swallowed a hairball.

I think he's starting to invent a new sport that might catch on. Extreme Vacuuming. Watch for it this fall on TSN.

7 comments:

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

That is so cute...I'm glad that you are documenting all his little favorite things because he'll love to read these to his children someday. You can also use it as blackmail when he's a teenager.

I really enjoyed reading this post today...even about the hairball.

lecram sinun said...

LOL! Tghat is way too cute!

Franny said...

Wow, you got that kid trained! My kids are TERRIFIED of the vacuum cleaner, and run screaming and crying bloody murder when I turn it on. As a result, we don't vacuum all that often. Thinking about buying a goat to eat up all the crap on the carpet...

lime said...

oh that is priceless!!! this is one of those 'little alexander stories' you will have to tell him when he is older, and tell his children too. i love it!

Anonymous said...

haha franny! too cute!

yes, Ben doesn't like the vacuum either, granted he's a cat...probably thinks the thing will suck him up or something.

as for Alexander, keep this story in mind as he gets older, so that you can remind him when he whines about doing this chore, how much he loved it when he was younger.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Mark! Love the Alexander anecdote...Alexander is going to be very embarrassed by that story when he's a teenager, LOL. Sounds like you're really enjoying the new career. You realize, of course, that we're still recovering from your loss over at the big I... :-)

Rainypete said...

Megan just covers her ears and proceeds to shriek "Too loud Daddy!". Maybe Alexander can develop a stealth vacuum.

I'll look forward to him diving out of a plane clutching a shop-vac on TSN in teh future.