Saturday, February 27, 2010

The Bite of the Acting Bug

Ethan has a love/hate relationship with our vacuum cleaner. Most of the time it's hate. He used to break into a fit of tears upon hearing the distinct noise. Not wanting him to be in such anguish every time we went on a cleaning spree, we worked really hard to make progress towards mending their relationship. Here's a breakdown of our four-step vacuum fence mending process:

1) Mama makes a big deal of waving to and saying hello to the vacuum.
2) Mama gets down on the floor and actually kisses - yes, kisses - the vacuum.
3) Mama encourages Ethan to show an equal level of enthusiasm towards his nemesis.
4) Mama points out vacuum cleaners in the real world (Target, friend's houses, etc.) and repeats the greeting process. No kissing this time, I have my dignity to preserve. At least while I'm in the company of others.

After a few weeks of this, we saw sweet success! Ethan not only was no longer scared of the vacuum, but actually enjoyed seeing and waving to them! Hurrah! We're brilliant parents! BRILLIANT, I say!

And then, out of the blue one day, he re-developed his fear. Ryan pulled out the vacuum, and Ethan reacted in sheer terror. His jaw dropped, his eyes widened, he threw his arms open, and began to shake. If it wasn't so sad to see him scared, I would have laughed.

Okay, I did laugh. Hey, funny is funny.

It was so funny, in fact, that Ryan recounted this story to his parents one evening over dinner, complete with demonstrative reenactment. Ethan saw the silly pose that his Daddy struck, copied it, and got a big laugh from his adoring fans. And a star was born.

He now regularly puts on "Scared Shows" for us, intermittently pretending to be terrified and giggling at his trick over and over again for minutes at a time. We caught this on film and wanted to share it with you. Enjoy!

6 comments:

The Insatiable Host said...

lol thats funny!
when my babies were like infant, freshies...i would vacuum around them while they were on their play mats...they have not had an issue with noise or anything...actually, one day the middle one was freaking out so much that i put her on the floor at 3 am and then put the vacuum on and she went to sleep!

lol
danon

www.insatiablehost.blogspot.com
www.pantypyramid.blogspot.com

Lady Grey said...

Adorable! I didn't have this with my son when he was a baby... but the dog! He would start barking like crazy... that is really funny!

Katie said...

What a GREAT idea! I wish I would have thought of that.

Unknown said...

Very, very cute!! Love your blog :)

Brenda said...

Vacuum kissing?! The things we do as a mother.=)

Shelby said...

Hey, Thanks for the comment. :) Love your blog, can't wait to read more of it. I am your newest follower. Hope your having an awesome day. :)