My Roomba is Branching Out

When I play "tea party" with the babies, we have pretend tea and cookies so we don't make a mess. When I was in Hawaii last week (I know I'm spoiled) one of the grandmas let them have a "real" tea party in the playroom. There are cookie crumbs everywhere and now they think my tea parties are real lame. (I don't blame them. Real cookies are much cooler than pretend ones. And that's what grandmas do. I'm sure it's payback for something I did when I was a kid.)

So, anyway, the playroom downstairs needed to be vacuumed. I picked up the toys and prepared to get out the real vacuum like normal, and got a flash of inspiration.

I brought the roomba downstairs for a field trip. Usually, the roomba lives upstairs and cleans my kitchen and living area, and my bedroom when he's really bored. But I was feeling extra lazy today and the thought of pushing the vacuum around tuckered me out. (I think it's vacation recovery. Poor me. Ha!)

I turned him on and we watched him go. The kids are still a bit wary of him so they stayed on the couch with one eye on him and one eye on Big Bird on TV. It would have been much quicker to have just done it myself with the big vacuum. But this was great. He even cleaned under the couch, which I would skip with the big vacuum. That should help with dust, right? (I'm trying to justify my laziness.)

I sat around and did nothing, and the roomba did my housework. Now I have him vacuuming the rest of the downstairs while I play on the computer and the kids take a nap. Now I think he'll make the trip downstairs a few times a week. This is better than a pet. He earns his keep.

I wish they had one that cleans toilets and folds laundry.
He still doesn't have a name and I'm OK with that. Until I find the perfect name for my little robot cleaning slave he's just "the robot".

My Roomba

I got a Roomba for Christmas! He's working a lot better than I expected. He cleans up the Cheerios the babies drop on the floor which I normally step on and track all over the house. I really like that he cleans under the couches and my bed. (I've never vacuumed under my bed.) So far I give him a B+.

I've heard other Roomba owners give their Roombas names. I used to think that was going a little too far, but now that I have one I can see how he could be thought of as a pet. So far he doesn't have a name, but I'm thinking something Star Trekky or Science fiction-like to go along with the "Robot cleaning my house" theme.

The 2 year old doesn't like him, but I think he's growing one her. She used to run away crying but now she watches cautiously while hiding behind something. And when he's all done and goes back under the hutch to recharge she comes in to tell me that "the robot is sleeping." The 1 year old seems indifferent to him, except when he picked up the goldfish cracker that she was reaching for. She was annoyed, but moved on quickly to the nearby cheerio. (Yes, I let my baby eat things off my floor... Don't judge.)