On Thursday morning, Mommy went to work and Big Brother went to school. Buster didn’t have school until afternoon, so he, Big Man, and I spent the morning together. This is how we spent our time.
Usually, when Buster and Big Man decide to play with the same toy, it leads to the outbreak of hostilities within two minutes. On Thursday morning, there was some kind of magic in the air. When they played nicely together for more than three minutes, I ran for the camera to get a rare shot of tranquility:
Railroad barons at peace.
These days I can’t get out the camera without them clamoring to take it away from me and do some of their own shooting. Buster was fastest to the camera and took these pictures of Big Man:
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- The face behind the train.
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- The cut of his jib.
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- You can never have too many pictures of baby teeth.
Then it was Big Man’s turn. Big Man quickly learned the ON/OFF button doesn’t yield memorable photographs. Moving his finger to the correct button, which it barely reached, made a big difference:
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- The most interesting part of a brother is the blurry little guy on his pocket.
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- Faces are so overrated in portraits.
After the photo session, I left to boys to play (without the camera) while I put away some laundry. I’m logging that chore right here, in case my wife didn’t notice. I should have had them take pictures of me folding shirts as proof.
Then I got out the vacuum, because I can be a good boy who does helpful things around the house from time to time. Vacuuming is a nice, light, cool-down chore after the heavy exertion of putting away laundry.
Each of our children has gone through a phase of adoring fascination with the vacuum. Big Brother and Buster have both put that phase behind them. Now that he is old enough to actually vacuum effectively, Big Brother hates no appliance more. Buster is indifferent to the machine. He too will learn to hate it when he is asked to push it for five minutes and this ruins his entire day.
Only Big Man lives still in the throes of admiration for the mighty vacuum. The moment it appeared, he was all over it, unwinding its cord and plugging it in. I no longer live in the hope that this toddler-vacuum love affair will last into years of productive house cleaning. I’ve been burned before. It’s now merely a matter of letting a boy learn to hate the device at his own pace. And letting him enjoy the bloom while it’s still on the rose.
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- Free range vacuuming.
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- There’s gold under them there chairs.
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- Tenderly wrapping the cord. It won’t be easy watching this love grow cold.
After vacuuming came lunch, which may or may not have undone all the cleaning already accomplished. No photographic evidence has survived. If you want an idea of what it was like, maybe you can Google images of “all Hell breaking loose.”
But, hey, I fed the kids. That’s the important thing.
Snoozing on the Sofa 
I loved the vacuum when I was little. I was always dragging it out of the closet and plugging it in. I was so obsessed my folks had to hid it. My little hobby sure came in handy, later in life, I was always cleaning up a mess at work.
I knew there was a good reason they hired you.
Priceless photos, although I really saw no evidence of your claim to having done some chores.
Yeah. Let me start a blog about a middle-aged man folding clothes. That’ll be a real winner.
Excuses, excuses!
How’d you know my middle name?
Giggling as I write … You deserve a medal for doing laundry and vacuuming, Scott. Have the Mrs. read that. Loved this post and how your day unfolded. Whether you know it or not your stories spread joy. Thank you!!
Then I’d have to dust my medals, and dusting on top of laundry and vacuuming would be too much. Glad this touched you, Amy.
I am living proof, you are never too old to cut heads off in photos. I love my Kirby, but not that much. 🙂
As long as you’re not pressing the ON/OFF button, your doing OK as a photographer.
If I gathered this correctly when you have something that you don’t want your kids to use, they want to use it (camera, vacuum). I’d start telling them they can touch the dishwasher immediately. Then I’d move on the lawnmower. You could have a real Tom Sawyer painting the fence thing going on here.
I can see it now: “Mowing the Lawn” starring Tom Sawyer and his three one-armed boys.
Were you making pancakes again? Send that boy who still likes the vacuum cleaner over here please!
File for his Canadian Work Permit now and we’ll let you know if he still likes to vacuum when you get it.
Oh boy. I can guess not.
Your kids are adorable. And apparently, theyre already ahead of me at the same age. lol I didnt touch a vaccuum until about 8 years old.
Thank you. It’s probably best for kids to wait to vacuum. My kids suffer vacuuming burnout by age four.
No problem. Aww. That sucks. lol. Yeah, if they keep it up, they wont touch a broom or dish , until 15. lol
They may not touch those things willingly, but hey will touch them.
Haha… I see. I call that good parenting.
And I call it necessity.
Love i!
Thanks, Laura.