Oh, Lovely Vacuum

While Neal has been at home for the past several weeks taking care of Charlie, he has also been an even super wonderful husband by keeping the house clean and tidy, doing the laundry (bless him!) and keeping up with the growth of what resembles grass on our lawn. One of the most important tasks in our house is vacuuming. With 2 very shaggy dogs who L-O-V-E to roll around in the grass and dirt, vacuuming is something that must be done more than once a week. It could probably be done every day. (And, I might add that the experience might even be pleasant if someone would just break down and buy me a Dyson already!) So, Neal is being the super wonderful husband that he is and is vacuuming regularly. When we returned from our trip, he quickly learned that Charlie loves the vacuum. One day, while sucking up the dusty fur balls and dead leaves tracked in from our beasts, Neal noticed Charlie practically exploding with excitement over this task. Neal decided to give Charlie a front row seat to this chore and put Charlie in the Baby Bjorn while he vacuumed. Apparently, Charlie kicked his legs, waved his arms, and squealed the entire time!

Not only does Charlie love the roar of the machine and the process of vacuuming, he also loves the machine itself. While in the kitchen, he will often scoot over to the closet where we house our Hoover. He struggles to open the door, and when he finally gets inside, he commences in an adorable routine of vacuum adoration. He points and grunts and smiles at it. Then he pokes at it and tries to hug it. It is seriously the cutest and funniest thing when he hugs the vacuum cleaner. Finally, Neal or I will take it out of the closet and put it in the middle of the kitchen floor where Charlie has full access to his beloved vacuum pet. Most of the time, we will lay the vacuum down on its back, giving Charlie every opportunity to investigate its many parts. His favorite, at the moment, is the underbelly where the sucking happens. He pokes around trying to determine just how this thing works. I swear, I would not be surprised if one day I leave him alone with it for 10 minutes and come back to find that he has completely disassembled the whole thing. Who knows? Maybe he’ll be the next inventor of a new vacuum technology that will put the Dyson to shame!