Sunday Snapshot

I can hear them waking but the sounds are muffled enough I can let myself drift back to sleep. But even in my dream, they are waking me up: I see Henry helping Dean out of his crib, the two of them carrying their assorted stuffed animals and blankets to the sofa, Dean still sucking on his pacifier. Henry turns on the TV quietly. About five minutes pass, then they decide they are lonely and hungry, so Henry pads in to our bed room and comes to my side of the bed and says, "Mommy, it's time to wake up." Matthew stirs and offers to get up with them but Henry says, "No - Mommy. That's how it always is after you have a wedding." And he's right and it's Matthew's turn to sleep in so I pop a caffeine pill and put on my robe.

On the sofa they watch Arthur and Sid the Science Kid, snuggled up on either side of me, while I read the paper. Then Dean and I mix up some banana nut muffins. When they are baked, he eats them with "banana pennies" in a circle on his plate. Matthew gets up and we make some tea and Henry reads a book while we read the paper and Dean...disappears. Only to return with a surprise, his only accident since "finishing" potty training a week ago. All cleaned up, he asks us to turn on some music so we can dance. Modest Mouse sings about paper thin walls, then Michael Jackson croons, meanwhile Dean's and Henry's dancing is so entertaining I get the video camera.

We decide to go to Target. It takes aboutforty-five minutes for everyone to get ready -- my makeup and making the list, Matthew's grooming and eating, Henry's new tie shoes (he gets them done almost by himself), Dean's second trip to the potty. Finally at 10:30 we are out the door as the first rain clouds in weeks gather overhead. We get into the store just as the first raindrops fall. We run into a friend and gab in the pet food aisle, which is odd since none of us is buying pet food, but they're remodeling the store and it is easy to get turned around. We find almost everything on our list -- pantry items, new Toy Story underwear for Dean (we get home and it is way too big -- they didn't have any 3T but I should have held out and ordered online), some water guns that were definitely NOT on the list -- then get in line and I cringe because we have yet again forgotten to bring our reusable bags.

At home the boys eat soup and watch Spongebob while I start some laundry and we put away the groceries. I try on a beach coverup I bought and decide with a belt and heels it might work for next weekend's wedding. Dean goes down for nap and I eat some lunch, reading Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father while Henry reads a book and we share a bag of Sun Chips. Then Henry and I sit down at the dining room table and discuss a character he will create, part of my urge to force him into doing something other than reading and catching bugs. He's reluctant at first but soon gets into the details of his bad guy character, rolling his eyes when I attempt to find ways to redeem him. "He's just a plain old bad guy, Mommy, just -- bad." He concludes by drawing a picture of his character. He and Matthew play video games for 15 minutes while I deal with insurance statements and packaging online clothing returns. Then Henry and I go in the back yard to try out the water guns. I win the first two rounds but on the last round he saves his ammo and when I am out, he pelts me at arm distance for a full two minutes. I go inside and change my clothes and the laundry. Henry reads while I write this blog. Matthew just came in to tell me about the stupid questions on the forms we have to fill out for the college funds we are finally starting for the boys. The form asked which college Henry will be going to. Matthew decide to select the first option, among those presented in alphabetical order: Apparently, in the year 2023, if our hopes and dreams and sacrifices as parents pay off, Henry will attend Abbeville Beauty Academy.