I try to vacuum often, but perhaps I don’t actually get around to it as frequently as I thought I had been. Today I brought the vacuum upstairs and Zoe immediately froze as if she’d never seen the thing before. She just stared at it and I tried to explain that it can’t hurt her and it is a good thing. She looked at me like I had told her that broccoli was good. I encouraged her to touch it and explore, but she pushed it away. I began to vacuum the rug in the living room and she very quickly crawled into the kitchen, away from the horrible machine-monster. When I was about half way finished I saw her peek into the living room and begin to slowly crawl near me, with this look of sheer horror on her face. She built up the courage to crawl past the vacuum and she grabbed onto my leg for dear life. We then made our way upstairs to vacuum the rugs in the bedrooms. I put her in her crib to keep her safe (not from the vacuum, but from the stairs) and when I got to her room, she was standing in her crib with BubBub (her security blanket) in one hand and the chili powder in the other. She was still pretty spooked and was quite relieved when it was all over. This experience reminded me why I don’t vacuum as often as I probably should!
October 25, 2006
