The Man-eating Vacuum

It seems like MONTHS that we have been trying to get Ben to go off the diving board, but he gets this deer-in-the-headlights look. Annie now goes off and can do so without her life jacket. Ben will walk to the diving board and then run back to shallow safety.

So, I was heating up leftovers for dinner tonight - of course with all the kids in the kitchen with me. :) If mom is in the kitchen, so is everyone else!

(Sidenote, Ben would rather be cooking with me than wrestling with dad!!! He is always in charge of eggs in the morning - I turn on the stove, do the salt, and separate the yolk for 'flat eggs' for he and Annie if we are having pancakes. He gets out everything, puts the butter in, cracks eggs, scrambles, flips (sometimes not so pretty), peppers, and wants to serve them on plates. He knows that with Dad he can do the whisk, but Mom takes away egg-making duties if he even looks at the whisk...okay back to the point of the story...)

So, there is no conversation and my brain is fried from 5 busy days of being mom. I say, "Tell me a story." So Ben starts on this story about a little boy who jumps off the diving board and sinks under the water and is eaten by the vacuum on the bottom of the pool. (This is while I am cutting watermelon and they are snatching pieces.)

AH-HAH! So we find out that is why he hasn't wanted to jump off the board (even though he is also scared when the vacuum is OUT of the pool, but oh well...)! So we talked seriously for a few minutes about that not being a possibility because he is much bigger than the vacuum and maybe it could get a few toes, but that is all. Then we decided he could try it with the life-jacket on. That brightened his face and we will try it!!! Hopefully tomorrow!!!

It's so funny - on another completely sidenote - his story reminded me of a mom who was trying to potty train her son. He was over four and would pee in the potty, but not poop. After taking him to many doctors and specialists, they found out he was afraid to sit because there was an elephant hiding in there and he would make noises when the toilet flushed. Once they resolved that fear, the little boy was great! Hopefully this will be the same way. Ben LOVES the water and LOVES swimming and diving for rings, and hopefully will soon (or later) LOVE the diving board as well!!!