"Normal"

Well, today is the first day back of "normal." My life as an actress is once again being replaced my my life as a Mom. Every now and again, these boys let me out of the house to fulfill my crazy addiction. "When I start to play a part, I play a part okay. No longer am I no one when I'm someone in a play."

I spent the last two months being a mom to two boys during the day and Rosalind Hay, the daughter of two dramatic parents, in 1953 Buffalo, New York at night. I ran up and down stairs, kissed a couple of boys, got to experience life as a blond, actually had a "hair guy", wore a few diamonds, made some great friends, and had my first solo stage monologue. I am juxtaposed at the moment between theatrical withdrawal and utter exhaustion.

The boys are very thrilled to have Mommy back, especially the biggest one in the house who was a little weary of solo nighttime duty. I spent four days a week running around Birmingham with pin curls and a scarf on my head getting very strange looks. Alden patted my head yesterday morning and said, "Mommy, you don't have pin curlies anymore!" You know it is bad when your three year old BOY knows what a pin curl is.

Okay, I am tired, now. Really tired. I have made it through a third of the laundry that became piled in the laundry room the last few weeks, have not yet to pick up a cooking utensil, am staring at the fifty thousand pieces of the Godzilla Halloween costume I have to sew, and sort of want to run back to the land of make believe.

Luckily, I have two little people to keep me company. They have become absolutely hilarious. I asked Alden to help me clean the playroom yesterday and he says, "I am sorry I don't have time. It doesn't fit into my schedule." So, maybe I don't have as much help as I thought. When I picked him up from preschool, he wanted to show me his daily artwork. He got it out of his bag and he said, "That was no problemo." I said, "Did you just say, 'No problemo?'" He says, "Ci." Thank you Spanish class!

We have gone through a super-duper Spiderman obsession. I am not sure where we are with that now because we have moved onto Godzilla. He calls Godzilla, Godsur. We have no idea why. So, that is when the $10 off the shelf Spiderman Halloween wish became the $100 made-from-scratch project from hell Godzilla costume by Mom. Not only does Alden have to be Godzilla, but he thinks that Spencer has to be Godsuki. The Godzilla people sidekick (I never knew about this creature). Wish me luck. Seriously.

During the show, we made many trips to Clare's for cheap theatre jewelry. This statue is right outside the store. I mean, surely, he knows this is not a real person. He loves her. We have to stop and sit and chat with her every single time. At least if your friend is made of iron you can always count on them to always be there.

The little guy over here loves food. I mean, he loves food. His trick is that he goes to this drawer and gets out bowls and brings it to you. That means he wants it filled up. His phrase is. "I want." So, the latest and greatest is, "I want a cookie." He will proceed to throw anything that is not a cookie across the floor. We went to get a cupcake this weekend and Spencer started clapping and screaming, " Cupcake! Cupcake! Cupcake!" I really didn't think he had ever had one. I gave him 1/4 of a cookie for dessert the other day. He ran off with it. When I found him, he had stored all of the chocolate chips from said cookie inside his shirt sleeves like some little squirrel. Do I hear Clorox calling?

Here is his other trick. This air vent was viciously attacked by a stiletto heal during a bridal shower at our house a year ago. It is just big enough to drop treasures. Recently, we decided to check it out.

Just a sampling of what we found. We are far from getting rid of any of these items as they are Spencer's favorites. He wants to always have as many pacis as possible. He will have one in his mouth for a while and then do a quick switch to an alternative paci. Perhaps they taste different, who knows. We try to take them away from him, but he has them stashed and knows exactly where to go and get another one. Ball is still his favorite word. He hates that he can't play soccer with his big brother's team. He says, "Please play ball." Heart-breaking. He is addicted to his syringe of reflux medicine that he gets twice a day. He will actually walk over and remove the paci and open his mouth for this fix. No, his trick to try to get rid of the cabinet lock so that he could microwave things (another fave) did not work. It is back where it belongs.

The boys had a super time going fishing. Alden tells everyone that he caught a carp and that it "was THIS big!"

Spiderman fishing rod. They don't make Godsur fishing rods.

All of you Moms and Dads know that you are constantly looking for entertainment for these little people. We have embraced a DuMontier family tradition that is held dear in the heart of all the men of the family. It took us a while to give in, but we are now members of Costco! We eat Costco food and wear Costco clothes and play with Costco toys. We have the weekly Sunday afternoon trip to this fabulous warehouse and who knew how much entertainment there was to be had. Joey loves that we can sometimes feed the kids a whole meal off of free samples, and if that doesn't work, there is always $1.50 pizza.

The best part is that you are able to buy enough food to last through a nuclear attack, drought, or alien invasion. We are so prepared!

More food fun is when Daddy decides that Alden needs to have a nut taste test. Joey eats a lot of nuts. There are like 10 different kinds of nuts in our house and the two older boys spent forever one day ordering them from favorite to least favorite. Surprisingly, pine nuts were the top of Alden's list.

Spencer's other favorite word is "hat." Everything becomes a hat. Plastic bags, buckets, plates, etc. Just a sampling of another form of entertainment around here.

Sometimes you got to post a picture just because it is cute.

I am astounded at how big both of these boys are getting. No stroller!! The only thing harder to believe is that I just posted a picture of my behind on the internet.

Mother's Day Out for two little boys has begun! So far, so good. Alden is super excited to be in Mrs. Laura's class and can't wait to get to school every morning. He refuses to tell me anything he does there as apparently it is as secret as the Dead Poet's Society, however, I have inferred from the take-home folder and the tracks on his t-shirts that the first week involved a lot of paint and the letter "A."

Spencer was super excited about day one of MDO. As I predicted, he was ready to play and get rid of Mommy. It has not taken him long to discover though that Mommy leaves him for a while and does not stay in the room. Day two, three, and all subsequent days have been a little different. So has day one of church nursery after starting MDO. Apparently, Spencer will periodically look at the door and cry for Mommy during the day. We are a lot clingy and newly attached. Sadly for him, he is the second child and we have gone through all of this before. As pitiful and that little face is, he has to suck it up, deal with it, and learn to hang out with his friends two mornings a week. We learned the first time around with this one.

When I taught school, my mentor teacher told me to always use a very calm voice until you really needed to make a statement. If you scream all the time, then they just tune you out even when it is important. Spencer has this concept down. This is the rare fit, rare cry, and rare ugly face. The result: he pretty much gets what he wants including a lot of sympathy. I mean, something must be very wrong, right? Alden never learned this. The boy cries at everything from no chocolate milk in the house to bedtime to brushing his hair. The result: like the 4th graders, we ignore him.

Spencer has three obsessions. The first one is balls. All the men will be happy to know that no matter what sport is on the TV, Spencer stops still in his tracks to say, "Ball." He already can identify baseball and football and stands mesmerized in front of the screen with his milk cup and snack bowl. Anytime he is hungry, he goes to the kitchen, gets a bowl out of the drawer and hands it to me to fill.

The second is dogs. This is Jake, Helen's dog. I am sad to say that it is not our dog because he is a really great dog and our dog is, well, not. We love her, but she is really zero fun. Spencer loves to find dogs at people's house and watch them. Obviously, he has no fear of them.

The funniest obsession is "Choo-Choo's." I just thought Alden liked trains. Spencer plays trains all day long. He just talks and talks about them. One day, a catalog of toys came in the mail. I was just sitting and flipping though and he came up to me. He saw this one Thomas the train tunnel. Seriously, he just said, "Choo-Choo" over and over and over again for about 20 minutes and pointed to the photo. He found the book the next day and the picture and did it again. This repeated for a third day. Guess what Spencer is getting for Christmas?

Alden, on the other hand, is my theatrical baby. This is Alden's, all on his own mind you, deciding to pretend to be the statue Vulcan.

Mommy and Alden on our outing to see Jack and the Beanstalk. There is a place we go to eat breakfast that has a tiered eating area. Alden goes to the highest point, dances around, and tells us he is "acting." He would much rather watch anything on TV BUT that football and baseball Spencer is watching.

Never fear, his creative Y chromosomes present themselves in the form of construction. He thinks that he needs to help us fix everything in the house. This is Alden ready to go into the basement to fix the sump pump when it broke. We were in serious trouble that this was the only repair man that we could get on Labor Day as the basement flooded. He finally convinced Daddy to let him take his flashlight down into the rising waters where he shouts, "My fork! My fork!" Yep, there is a floating green baby fork. Know what else we found floating around the sump pump? A Thomas toothbrush! Now, this is not a basement where you go if you can at all avoid it. It is a 1920's dungeon that probably inspired the musical Sweeny Todd. No light, dirt piles, low ceilings, and a very out of place sink I don't even want to know what it was used for. If we have ghosts, they are there. The only reason to go down there is a tornado warning. Why on earth was their a Thomas toothbrush and child's fork???

I can't even get them to clean up a toy, but my mother can get them to wash her windows. Explain that.

Of course, she does take them fishing.

And lets them sit in random tubs of water.

And help pick vegetables. Speaking of vegetables, the other day Alden wanted to eat at a restaurant I hate but it has a train that goes around the room. I said that I didn't want to eat there because the food was bad. He said, "Mommy, they have vegetables and water. I would have thought you would have liked it." Well, at least I have exhibited healthy habits.

The boys would much prefer to live off of popsicles and donuts. Spencer eats no meat, Alden eats no veggies, Daddy eats no dairy or grain. Seriously?! What am I supposed to cook for these people?

Ah well, something must be making them happy.

Summer Days

There really is nowhere to start. At a birthday party this weekend, a grandmother said,"Oh my gosh, Carla, it never stops!" Yes, she was referring to my children. However, right now, it is my whole life. Between a one year old boy, a two year old boy, music class, T-Ball, pediatrician visits, visitors, sewing for my children, sewing for other people's children, two theatre boards, Spencer deciding he doesn't want to sleep by himself, rehearsing for a play, being a supportive cook of my husband's smashing Paleo diet, laundry that multiplies itself, picking up toys, and hit or miss naps...it never stops! I am officially overwhelmed. Yesterday, I tried to microwave Spencer's lunch by putting it in the freezer. I have decided that something has to go. I voted the laundry and cooking, but I am not sure that is the realistic choice. The good news is that my little cherubs have decided to be little buddies. Like all brothers, there are still hourly scuffles and tears and complaints, but overall they are best friends. In the midst of the chaos, this brings a lot of peace. Here are a few brotherly moments:

We were at a party recently where a bigger boy who shall remain nameless hit and pushed Spencer and told him to get out of the way. Joey and I were talking about this on the way home when we hear from the backseat.

Alden: "[Boy] should not have hit Spencer. He is a baby and you don't hit babies!"

We decide to give a little lesson on taking turns and how the boy should have waited his turn and been patient instead of pushing Spencer. Then...

Mom: "It was so sweet of you to take care of Spencer and be a good big brother."

Alden (angry): "I'm not going to take care of Spencer. I am going to take care of [Boy]!"

Protective brother strikes again a few days later. We are in the kitchen together making dinner. I turn to the stove for that 30 seconds that somehow expands into a massive amount of time for a one year old to find trouble. If only I could accomplish as much in one turn of the head as two little boys! All of a sudden I hear:

Alden: "Oh, no! Mommy! Spencer has a knife. Knives hurt babies!"

Little man had figured out how to open the dishwasher, which was closed and locked, and retrieved a rather large knife that he was planning on carrying around the kitchen. Proud of brother for telling, proud of brother for knowing that we should not touch knives because they are dangerous, and realized we are back to hand-washing all the sharp objects since the dishwasher is now a danger area.

Now, Alden is not all love and support around here. Spencer has also been locked in the closet, closed in the dog cage, locked in the bathroom, bitten, forbidden from playing with any of Alden's toys (by Alden), put in time out (by Alden), pushed, tattled on, trapped in an upside down laundry basket, and water-boarded in the bathtub. This makes me more referee than Mom at times. My absolute favorite of late was this: Alden running to me whining and screaming: "Spencer is watching my T.V. show!"

Now, it did not surprise me when we did not want little brother to play with our toys, but I think this is a bit ridiculous.

We have finally joined the pool. This is the best thing I have ever done in my life! Spencer loves to float, and Alden has a great time jumping and pretty much playing in one foot of water so I don't have to worry about him at all. Not bad to just have to stand in cool water in the 96 degree weather and hang with the boys. Added bonus, they are completely worn out after a mere hour of sun and water which guarantees afternoon naps!

Alden has discovered water fountains. He loves them. We visit every water fountain we can possibly find wherever we go. I am learning to block out the germ factor and just indulge him.

Alden went swimming with the sharks! No, really. We went to see the sting rays and the sharks at the science museum. He is really a little nervous about actually petting them even though he always wants to see them and is an expert on proper handling/petting of wild animals. But, on that particular day, he got really brave and put his two little fingers in that little pool just as the shark swam by. Unfortunately, it was a little bit harder to reach than he thought and he leaned over a little bit more than he thought. Head first he went! He was in total shock for a few seconds. Everyone, I mean everyone, is looking at us. Then, he starts screaming that his skin hurts. Screaming! We make it to the bathroom and strip off his shirt and try to wash him off with flimsy brown paper towels and sink water. He is out of control crying and screaming and it suddenly comes to me to say,"Hey, Buddy, do you want to go to the gift shop and buy a new t-shirt?" This seemed to fix things. We got a lot more looks as we made our way to the gift show with a half-naked, wet child. He picked out this Octopus shirt from the sale table...and it glows in the dark!

This was a much better choice though than this ensemble. This is what happens when all of your friends are girls. I am surprised he put it on. He is very into boy vs. girl toys and colors these days and tells me all the time things he can't play with or watch because it is "for girls." Everything that is pink or has ballerinas he tells me is "for Helen because I am a boy."

Yep. He is a boy. Clearly.

More boy things: T-Ball. Alden attends T-Ball games. I wouldn't actually say that he plays T-Ball. The more the season goes on, the worse it gets. Alden is the one in the very back of the photo crouching down and picking through the dirt. That is pretty much what he does. The good news about this photo is that it seems that everyone else is board with the whole thing as well. These are the outfielders while the other team is batting.

This gives you a better picture. This is during the same game. Yes, during the game.

All that sitting in the baseball field must have made him hungry. There are two issues we are having that are demonstrated in this photo: Alden's fascination with snacking and his fascination with the step stool. First, he won't eat meals. He just wants to have snacks all day long. And they have to be in the blue bowls. He has deemed the red bowls are Spencer's and he will not eat out of them. If you don't get him a snack, he will sneak into the kitchen and make his own (with blue bowl). This is not something you want him to do. If you tell him he can't have something, he will fake cry and say,"I have a tummy ache." In his world, the tummy ache gets him sweets, gatorade, more of anything, and the ability to stay up as long as he wants. To get his snacks, he often uses the step-stool. Or just to randomly "wash dishes" whenever he felt like it. It got so bad that the step-stool had to disappear. The problem is that our cabinets were built for an amazon woman and now I can't reach anything! I do a lot of jumping these days.

Speaking of food, Joey has the whole family on the Paleo Diet. Basically, this means meat, fruit, veggies...no grains, pasta, dessert, bread. Um, really? We have two toddlers and we are eliminating pasta and bread! So, here is their first Paleo lunch. Turkey, cheese, and avocado. The fruit and cashew nuts were eaten before I could get a photo. They actually like it for the most part! We took them out to eat the other day and got them a sandwich. Without any prompting or comments from Mom or Dad, they both took the bread off and threw it away and ate the meat and cheese alone. It was weird.

Spencer preferred to wear it.

This is what we do with all the left-over bread.

But it is exhausting buying groceries.

Well, we cheated a little at Krispy Kreme. But only because Helen wanted to.

Now, for our random moments of fun. Alden thinks that this is a stop sign because it is an octagon. He runs out in the front yard and yells, "STOP!" to all the cars and buses.

After three weeks in a row of birthday parties, it was Wolfie's turn.

Blessings! Spencer has started to love books. The difference between Alden and him is still very vast when it comes to reading. He likes to flip the pages more than actually see what is on them. His favorite books are ones that have the touch-and-feel portion or are around cars and trucks. He doesn't like books about animals at all. Even though my boys are total opposites right now, I love that both of them are willing to cuddle before bed with a good book.

Sweet curls.

Alden dressed as Daddy ready for work with his Wall Street Journal. He wore the tie all day including to the shoe store...where he lost it. It took a return trip, four random children, two employees, and the three of us to figure out where he had put it.

Ready for Baseball!

One morning, Joey randomly woke up and wanted to take a trip. We went to the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center. Really fun to just get up and decide to go on a whim.

Sparked a whole new interest in Alden. The timing was interesting...they were studying space in summer Mother's Day Out...Alden is all into "spacemen"...and they cancelled the space program. Hum.

Naps have returned...for the most part...Amen! Know how? If you drive them around in the car for a while, like when they were newborns, they fall asleep and can be carried to bed. You know, whatever works, right?

Alden's first drawing that actually looks like something. It is a man in case it doesn't look like something to you. We are working on our name. We have made it through A-L-D, but we are stuck there. The curve of the D is a little challenging. He keeps making P's. He is so proud of his A's. He wants to show everyone and always says he wants to practice his A before bed. I will try to get a photo for the next post. Maybe by then we will be on E!

Mr. Chill