eating stuff (the joy that is little boys)

so the other day, i was getting dressed in my room.  from the other side of the door, i kept hearing desmond announce with pride, "I lick it!  Mommy, I lick it!"

i ignored him, thinking he was chewing on one of Sirius' toys or something.

"Mmhmm, sweetie."

i came out of my room and discovered that desmond was, in fact, in the process of devouring a stick of butter.  It was over half gone and filled with teeth marks.  His grinning face was shiny and as buttery as a biscuit.

ugh.

does the story sound familiar?

maybe it's because i caught tesla doing the exact same thing when he was only 2 months older than desmond is now.

tesla, caught in the act.

i mean, i like butter.  probably the only person who likes butter more than i do is paula deen herself.  par example: the other night, silas and i went to the cheesecake factory.  they gave us a basket with two loaves of bread and 6 little packets of butter.

silas and i split the bread evenly.  he used one little foil-wrapped portion of butter for all of his bread.

i, of course, used the other five.  one for each slice!

i often like to just dip chunks of bread in softened butter, rather than spreading it on thinly.

so it's obvious where the boys got their affinity for buttery goodness.

but even i wouldn't eat a stick of butter like a popsicle.

tesla with his "purse"

the other day i was walking to the car, carrying a bunch of stuff, when i heard desmond call out, "Mommy!  I drink a water!"

i turned to find both him and tesla, face down on the cement driveway, licking up some liquid that i hope was a dirty puddle.  it could have been spilled oil or some poisonous car fluid, for all i know.

desmond and sirius

and then today, we were walking to the car again when i heard desmond say, "Mmm!  Cereal!"

i looked down to find him happily crunching on something.

i had not given him any cereal.



sometimes seems like a miracle they're still alive.






*you'll notice that it was desmond drawing my attention in each of these scenarios.  it appears tesla's learned to keep quiet by now, in order that his mischief may continue uninterrupted.

anticlimax

i was getting restless. 

maybe it's because it's october, but it feels like july.  fall is my favorite season, and each year i welcome it with open arms.  fall means crisp, cool air.  fall means baking.  fall means eating huge bags of candy corn and turning my tongue hot pink.  (did you know that's what color candy corn turns your mouth?  maybe you've never eaten an entire bag of candy corn in one day.)  fall means leaves and pumpkins and long sleeves and anticipation.

fall does not mean 100 degree afternoons.

(not complaining, just saying.)

i was itching for change, but since i'm growing out my hair* (i feel like i'm perpetually "growing out my hair"), there's only one solution.

it comes in a $10 box and smells like death by choking.

as i was applying the dye, i realized that i had not thought this through.  i hoped it wouldn't look too bad (and i sent up a few prayers to ward off orange hair).  but i was committed.  i wanted a change!

i'll let you see for yourself how it went.

before

after

 (please excuse my wide-eyed look of uncertainty in both photos)

what's that, now?

you say it looks exactly the same?

ah.

it appears that, for once, i was actually a little too conservative.  medium blonde obviously wasn't blonde enough.

now i'm enduring a mental battle of impatience ("GO GET ANOTHER BOX!  WHO'S UP FOR ROUND TWO?") versus prudence ("now remember, even though there wasn't a visible change your hair was probably damaged, and you should wait several weeks or even a few months before dousing it in chemicals again.")

who will win?  stay tuned for the next thrilling installment.

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*speaking of growing out hair, i saw this post last week and i almost booked a haircut right then and there. her hair is so cute at every stage, and the pictures decimated one of my pixie-cut obstacles (the fear of growing it out and looking like a fool for an entire year.)  one step closer to the brave world of really short hair...