Today we were going to have a playdate with the little guy I was taking care of, he and Grace have been asking for each other all this past week and missing one another so his mom and I decided they needed to hang out. So of course, when I awoke this morning I went into a cleaning frenzy because not having him here has made me quite the slacker in the house-keeping area.
I asked Phil to man the vacuum cleaner since I find it cumbersome and I usually get some very lovely Braxton-Hickes after making use of it. I tidied all the toys, and told Phil that the couch needed to be vacuumed out, so we pulled off the cushions and he sticks the wand into the couch and as I am saying "You need to check that for toys and such" we hear that tell-tale slurp from the machine that says "I've just sucked up something big."
I look at Phil and say "what was that?" he says "I don't know, maybe a sock or a finger puppet?" I then give a mini-lecture on needing to LOOK before you vacuum out the couch. He continues to vacuum, while I debate whether or not I am going to pull apart the vacuum cleaner bag to get out the sock or finger puppet...when I notice Rose.
Rose is hovering on the edge of the desk, looking very pale...and there is NO JUNIOR IN HER SLING.
"OH MY GOD YOU'VE SUCKED UP THE BABY!!!!" I scream as I rush over to turn off the vacuum.
Phil looks at me as if I have lost my mind. "No dear" he says calmly "The baby is safe inside your belly. I can't suck it up with the vacuum cleaner."
"No!! NO!!!! Junior, Rose's baby!!!" I say, with a very clear 'you are a moron' tone of voice.
Phil is still looking at me like he may have to call someone, because clearly his wife is going crazy, as I open up the machine and plunge my hand into the bag and start rooting through the dirt. But then he catches on and helps me search as we have a debate over who's fault this is (he claims I should have gone through the couch when I tidied the toys, I maintain that he should be looking in the couch before just starting to suck stuff up).
We find Junior.
He's a lot shaken, a bit dirty and his hair is all out of place, but he's ok.
I guess what happened was Junior and Grace were playing a game of Hide-n-seek before we started cleaning, and Junior was not found. As I took Rose and Junior off to another room (when the vacuum cleaner started again he screamed in terror) I heard Rose mumbling something about never letting him out of her sight and never ever leaving the desk again (No worries Cate, I'm sure she'll be over it by the time your trip rolls around).
Poor Junior. He really does take after his father (I can totally see Henry managing to get sucked up by a vacuum cleaner, couldn't you?).
6 comments:
oh dear! Glad mom and baby were reunited none the worse for wear.
Poor Junior! I'm glad he came out of it okay in the end. I bet Rose was freaked!
Good Heavens!
Henry is just relieved that Junior is ok. But he thinks the trip up vacuum cleaner nozzle would be a helluva ride.
(He's hanging out near the nozzle now, waiting for me to plug it in. Yeesh.)
Reason 29 bagless vacs rule: You can find a baby knitted monster faster after sucking him into the machine.
;)
And my verification ins ooomwfiy, which may be the noise Junior made on his trip up the pipe.
Snort. Sorry, but it IS funny (now that I know he is ok).
Poor kid.
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