The Vacuuming Phenomenon and Other Things

I thought it was just Tyler. It seems like every time I vacuum, he tries to be just a little louder than the hum of my Oreck. Usually he runs around in circles, singing or howling or just making noises in the room I’m vacuuming. Whatever it is he’s doing, he does it very loudly, and it always irritates me. I think sometimes he doesn’t realize he’s gotten so loud. At other times I think he’s genuinely trying to be as loud or louder than the vacuum for no reason other than to see if he can. It happened again today while I was vacuuming the family room. I was pushing the vacuum back and forth and admiring the nice pattern that appears on a freshly swept rug when I thought I heard a noise. But this time, Tyler was at school and Danielle was downstairs in the play room, entertaining herself quite nicely. I turned off the vacuum, and the noise stopped. I turned the vacuum back on and continued to sweep the floor, working my way from the family room to the computer room, occasionally hearing the loud howling sound. When I moved into the computer room, I realized I wasn’t hearing howling. There sat my husband, who was working from home, making up silly lyrics and belting them out as loud as he could, just to see if he could be louder than the vacuum. I guess it’s not just Tyler. It’s just Tyler and his daddy.


Here are the “other things”:

In a memorable break-through moment tonight at dinner, Danielle successfully spelled her name (DANI)! She did it out of the blue, by herself, and was SO proud of herself when I practically exploded with excitement.

After Tyler got home from school today, I asked him if he thought he could write all his ABCs. I don’t know why, but we’ve just never tried them all in one sitting. He was excited to try it and did great!
Later he was watching the Spongebob episode where Spongebob had to write an essay for Boating School. The title of the essay was “What not to do at a stoplight.” Tyler jumped up and asked for another piece of paper. “I want to write an essay, Mom, about what not to do at a stoplight. Will you help me?” He told me what he wanted to write and I helped him with the letters. For some of them, I just singled out the sound for him and he figured out the letter. So, this is Tyler’s first essay. All he has is the title, but a good writer has to start somewhere.