Vacuuming

I was sitting at the dining room table filling in today's schooling for Micah and Amelia, meager amount that it was, and Amelia walked by pushing the vacuum cleaner. Now, I know that life would be much less stressful if I just gave in and admitted that she is clearly the one running this household. So I decided to wait and watch.

Interestingly, though I was in the room, one of the teens sprang into action and let her know that she is NOT in need of the vacuum and tried to wrestle it from her. My hero. I pointed out that I was right there and asked said teen to let her be. "But she has the vacuum!" To which I replied, "I know, if only all of my children would see a mess that needs cleaning and actually do it!"

Now, I don't encourage Amelia to go near electrical outlets but she beat me to it and fired up the vacuum. Apparently she only needed the hose to clean some crumbs on the couch. Unfortunately she rested the vacuum on some socks, they got partially sucked in and the resulting smell of the overheating vacuum was not pleasant. Now I remember why I don't give in and let her run the household.

It is fascinating that my seven year old who has Down Syndrome can see a chore or task being done once and immediately knows exactly how to do it and how often it needs getting done. (Whether that is true or not.) Yet my teens who have been seeing these same chores and tasks for years still don't seem to understand how it's done.

Some days though, I wish she were more like them. So does Dante, when she decides he is done sleeping and strips him in bed to change his diaper. Her heart is right, the follow through needs some work! I guess we are all a work in progress.