Mommy's Sweet Helper

I think it’s every parent’s secret desire that they will one day have a child that willingly helps with the house work and such. Deep down inside, they know this dream may never come true, but it’s nice to dream. We were definitely blessed.

I watch our LM as he grows. He loves to try to help. He wipes up when he spills things, sometimes he spills on purpose and then asks for a rag by saying “(w)ash” and rubbing his tiny hands together. He helps set up his dinner area… and then helps clean up after dinner. But, the most interesting fascination is the vacuum cleaner.

I’m not sure what it is about the vacuum cleaner he finds so appealing, but I don’t stop to question him about it. I just let him indulge his fascination. Maybe I’m wrong in always doing that, but it’s pointless to argue with a 19-month-old, they tend to win.

I never expected him to take an interest in vacuum cleaners when he was 9 months old (when he started to pick up the cord and follow me as I vacuumed). I thought he’d forgotten about it when he grabbed the vacuum from me at 17 months old and vacuumed most of the family room at my parents’ house. I certainly never expected him to retain the interest, yet here we are, 2 months later… and he saw the vacuum while we were getting ready for work and insisted on vacuuming. Who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth?

Not only did he insist on using the real vacuum as opposed to his toy vacuum, he also moved things out of his way to clean behind them… then called on me to put them back. It was absolutely precious.