I CanTouch the Vacuum!

One of the quirky things about our adorable son has been the number and type of things that scare him. I can’t even begin to list them all. Anything from loud noises, not odd you may say, to barking dogs that can barely be heard because he’s inside and they are outside. A tomato vine, the toys they purposefully make to crinkle when baby grasp them in his hand…Well, like I said, I cannot even begin to list all the things.

However, just recently he has begun to conquer his fear much to the delight of not only his parents but also himself. Up till now he has been absolutely terrified of the vacuum. I could never vacuum when he was awake because he would just become unglued. But he was not only afraid of the vacuum when it was on. He was afraid to be anywhere around the vacuum cleaner. Once I had it in a bedroom that he had to crawl by. Well he stopped dead in his tracks and started sobbing. I couldn’t figure what in the world was wrong with him until I saw the vacuum. So I closed the bedroom door. Nothing doing! He still wouldn’t go anywhere near that door. So I had to pick him up and carry him to another part of the house. When we stayed with my mom and dad, mom had her vacuum in a room we had to pass frequently. Every time we walked by it he would put out his arm and jabber something. I think he was saying, “That’s the vacuum!! Hurry we have to get past it before it eats us up.”

Last month there was a breakthrough. The vacuum was in my bedroom waiting for me to get around to vacuuming. William walked in there and saw the vacuum. But instead of heading in the other direction he stopped sat down and just stared at it. Not a short stare. This was a long stare. In fact he stayed there looking at it like he was watching a show on TV or something. He would sit and sit and sit. It was the funniest thing. I just left the vacuum there for several days and at different times during the day I’d find him sitting there looking at the vacuum, sucking his fingers and acting like he was looking at some type of breathtaking scenery. Then he started to touch it. He would go over to it and put his hand on it and look at me like he had just done something great. And I acted like he had of course. I mean, I still won’t even think of touching a roach. Not even a dead one. So I can understand a little boy’s delight in touching the scary vacuum. Go William. Now we have to get past men with bushy beards and…