Screwdrivers, Vacuum Cleaners, & Pain

I posted pictures from when Gary’s parents were here and talked about how his dad fixed a lot of things around the house.  One of the posts talked about how he took the vacuum cleaner apart and how Ethan watched with great interest.  Gary’s parents mailed a new vacuum cleaner belt to us, so Gary got the tools out to take the vacuum cleaner apart and replace the belt.  Once again, Ethan watched enthusiastically.  Except this time, he wanted to “help” even more than with Papa.  He totally loved trying to use the screwdriver to take the screws out and put them back in.Once Gary got the new belt in, Ethan enjoyed vacuuming the rug.  The family who lived here before left us this vacuum cleaner.  It’s really old and loud, but it’s the only one we’ve found that works on this rug (that the family also left us).  So, the other vacuum cleaner that we’ve always had is much more maneuverable for Ethan, but it’s fun to watch him try to use this one.

In the last few weeks Ethan has been pointing to screws when he sees them.  Last week he pointed to a large screw that was in the bottom of a bookshelf.  He went and got the tool box, brought it into the room with the shelf and wanted to get the screwdriver to take the screw out.  I didn’t realize that he had picked up on where we kept the tool box, so now we have to find a new location where he can’t reach it.  It’s not much of a tool box.  It’s one that my mom got for me in college with a few things, but needless to say, even a screwdriver can be dangerous.

Well, little did we know that a vacuum cleaner can be dangerous too.  Last week, Gary was vacuuming the rug that’s in the picture above.  While he was vacuuming, Ethan turned the vacuum cleaner over and stuck his hand in it (while it was on).  You can see the wheel of it in the first picture, so that was turning when he put his hand in it.  It ended up taking a layer (or possibly more) of skin off of part of his thumb, index finger, and the corner of his palm.  It looks much better now since the scab has been forming.  I thought it would cause most of his hand to bruise, but surprisingly, it hasn’t.  He still keeps his fingers bent down for the most part, trying to protect it, but each day has used it more and more.