Vacuuming Legos

We love LEGO. I grew up receiving huge boxes of them as a kid when they were first created! My mom still possesses the remainder of what my brother and I cherished. We built everything you can imagine including Alcatraz (yes we grew up watching whatever whenever!:0) and a candy keeper (I grew up right down the road from a Suwanee Swifty and change from lunch always in my pocket). I never understood what all the fuss was about when I was a kid.

Now, as the mother of three boys I have, at times, been put on restrictions from buying any more legos. It's not very much fun when you see a great set on sale for half price and you have to pass it by! But as of today more than ever, I understand the fuss my mother made over those darn legos that her MIL sent to us every year.

MM wanted to dust out his computer (Why do we call it that and not de-dust?, you can answer that in the comments section!) so he dragged the vacuum out and plugged it in. Everything was set including the hose and it's attachment, perfect for computer cleaning! Then he threw the switch to the on position and quick as he could back off again! The squeal pierced my ear. "What was that?" I exclaimed from the boys' room where I had been reading to them. I leaped from my abode hoping against hope that my 11 yo vacuum had bit the dust! Could today be the day that I get to fork over a modest car payment for a dirt picker-upper? I really do want a new vacuum!

Backtrack a little here. Some say that boys need to tear stuff apart to find out how it works. I tend to agree with them. Just a few days before L was looking for some broken tool/toy/article to dismantle in hopes of repairing with the tools he received for his last birthday. I have always wanted to be a flexible home school mom who went with the flow of things, and I am right brained. Now was my chance to fulfill both of our desires.

All three boys followed me down stairs,

one with tools(L), one with a camera (M)and

one with himself (S) (he's too little to carry things down a flight of stairs!). As we got started I said a prayer. I wanted L to experience all the thoughts that I go through when I'm fixing something around the house. Step by step we walked through the journey of dismantling the vacuum. M was busily pressing the button and making us paw-oo-say (French for pause!) for specific poses if he missed the good picture. He was really good at it.

Before it was all over and I had gotten to the motor (that's the business part of the whole contraption) we found ourselves looking at a propeller with some strange object lodged between it and the housing. Not wanting to really get into the motor, I stopped and had L take a gander. Could this be the culprit? Would my vacuum last a few more years? Oh, I hope so. With screwdriver in hand we pried the wayward lego out of its prison. It was a sad day in LEGOland, this brick would no longer click!

The moral of the story: In order to get a new vacuum, imprison more LEGO...