Vacuum Amore

With Valentine's Day steadily approaching I thought I'd dedicate a post to Zander and his unusual love/hate relationship with the vacuum.



But to fully understand this odd couple you must first ponder the very peculiar person known as Zander himself. When David and I were first married we were blessed with Ashton, whom, though extraordinarily lovable, was thought to be a stubborn little tyrant at the time. Then this little dude came along....



Z is twice the toddler Ashton was and then some. He has our hands so full that our arms and legs can't even handle the slack. At nineteen months old, he fully believes he is large and in charge, and he may be right. He still calls me Stacy, knowing full well how to say Mommy and that it hurts my feelings when he doesn't. When he doesn't want you to interrupt what he's doing, he motions you away with his hand and says "Go" in a smug little tone. He can't be bothered sometimes to wait for me to change his wet diaper in the morning, if I take too long to come get him, he will take his clothes and diaper off himself. And if I still haven't come, he might relieve himself again on the side of the crib while waiting.
He's got quite the ego. He loves to excitedly point himself out in pictures as "ZZ" and is endlessly delighted at looking at himself in the mirror.
He's constantly trying to figure out ways to outsmart everyone. He is currently on strike about naps and it is always a 50/50 chance if he will actually fall asleep or just entertain himself for two hours in his crib. I have gone in there on a few occasions where he has piled up all his blankets and stuffed animals against the railing and is trying to make a run for it over the top.
He knows that if someone is playing XBox and he wants their attention, all he need do is simply walk over to the machine and turn it off, then he REALLY has their attention (David and Ashton really hate that one).
Despite his obstinance. Z is incredibly loving. His cries are easily comforted by a big hug and kiss and he loves to cuddle with stuffed animals and the dog. He gets attached to certain toys and always shows affection by "kisses", inanimate object or not.
With such an easy affection towards all of God's creations you can see why he became so enamoured with the vacuum, right?
Here is how a typical morning (or afternoon) may look like in our house. If Grandma isn't there that day to watch them or Ashton is not at school, I would be in my office working or goofing off on the computer and this is how the living room looks:



Zander making his rounds with the vacuum, Dixie's chewed up toy remnants on the floor and Ashton glued to the couch playing Lego Star Wars. This is actually our smaller vacuum. We have a bigger one that he wants to play with even more but he gets frustrated at his inability to maneuver it very well.
Here he is running away from me as I try and get the vacuum from him.



The vacuum is never actually on in any of these instances. That is where the whole love/hate equation comes into play. When the vacuum is on, it scares him half to death. But at the same time, he likes to have it on when he is at a safe distance on the couch watching lovingly as his prized possession moves around the floor. When Grandma comes over he always insists that she vacuum the house (which is fine by me!).
The problem with this whole obsession of his is what he is really interested in is quite dangerous



The cord.
So I end up pulling tricks like this which upset him:


But it isn't long before he is back to business...



Many parents may find the object of his affection a little strange, but I just kind of chalk it up to this kid's wacky character. Sure, his asking for the "gakoom" (vacuum) 24/7 gets a little annoying, but we get such a kick out of his personality most of the time that even his stubborn little fits entertain us.



Oh...and he also really loves "nonuts" or "donuts" as we call them in English. But we are trying to get "Zanderish" to be named as the official language of the United States because, after all, this is Zander's world and we all just live in it :)