Roomba, Roomba, ROOM-BA!

I received a Roomba for Christmas. What a great gift! He's been hard at work here all year, mostly in our kitchen.

The first day Ting Ting saw it, she asked, "what's that?"
"It's a robot," I said. "He cleans our floors for us."
"Oh," she said, then put her head down to peer under the table. "Thank you!" she called out.

Yesterday morning she dropped some Cheerios on the floor.

"Uh oh," she said. "You'd better get the robot."

The floor was messy in other places, too, so I set Roomba to work. The phone distracted me for a minute while Ting Ting followed the robot around. Then I heard the door to the powder room slide shut. Thinking Ting Ting had gone to the bathroom on her own, I came around the corner to see if she needed any help.

Nope. She was standing outside the closed door giggling, her ear pressed to it. She had trapped Roomba inside, and he was merrily bouncing around from wall to wall to wall in the tiny room.

Working to keep a stern expression on my face, I explained that Roomba was meant to run free. She opened the door so he could zoom out and get to work under the kitchen chairs.

It kind of reminds me of her early days with Cyrus. But this pet doesn't have claws or teeth, and he cleans up after himself. We definitely need to encourage this friendship.