DarcsFalcon: WHEN THE CARPET FLUFF

WHEN THE CARPET FLUFF: "

You probably have no idea what it’s like. You probably pull out the vacuum whenever you need to, or want to, and just vacuum away until your carpet is clean. I’ve never been a fan of vacuuming, but I was able to get it done when it needed to be done, when I felt like doing it. I even used to have vacuum days – Tuesdays and Fridays. Sure, I hate vacuuming, but I did it because it needed to be done and it was as simple as that.

Then I had my daughter.

Since she was a tiny baby, she will scream whenever I vacuum. When she was an infant, I tried to resort to vacuuming when she slept because I could close the bedroom door and it wouldn’t wake her up. As she got older and more mobile though, it became a problem. She sees me heading toward the closet door – where we keep lots of other things besides the vacuum – and she’ll start to take off for her bed so she can cry and hide under the covers. Even if all I’m getting is a screwdriver, she always asks, “You’re not going to vacuum, are you?” She asks it like I’m going to butcher kittens or something.

When she was 2, I got her a toy vacuum. Silly me, I thought if she had a toy vacuum, she could pretend to vacuum with mommy and it wouldn’t be so intimidating anymore. FAIL. My son used to take his Star Wars laser gun and pretend to kill the vacuum to play a knight in shining armor rescuing his damsel in distress baby sister, but she didn’t fall for that one either. I’ve tried to get her to look at it and touch it when it’s not plugged in, so she can see how harmless it is. I’ve held the nozzle up to her hand so she can see she’s way too big to get sucked up into it, just like she can never go down the drain. I’ve let it suck up my own hair, so she can see that even if something does accidently go up, it can be rescued. *sigh*

Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail, and FAIL.

So, the vacuuming gets pushed aside because who wants to terrify a child, or listen to her scream? And it’s a problem because today my carpet bit me and I think my daughter is making herself a new pet.