Ahh. Nearly summer.

My favorite time of year. James is almost done with school . . . some quality family time lurks around the corner ready to POUNCE–for which I can’t wait . . . and projects around the house yell my name. . .

. . . Speaking my name, Brayden has begun calling me “Bezzie” every now and then (more often than I’d like to admit). Addie (the little girl I babysit) is the one to blame for that–although it’s not really her fault that she calls me Miss Bethany in front of Brayden all day long. He just repeats what he hears. . .

So, we play games or color or read books. . . usually it’s “Brayden’s turn” to do things, but since we work on sharing, he hands over whatever the task at hand is and says, “Bezzie turn”. Hey, at least he’s cute when he’s calling me by my first name instead of my maternal name.

Lest you worry, that’s not always the case. Just today during lunch, he sneezed. “Bless you, Brayden”, says I. “Thanks, mommy”. There has been lots of sneezing going on lately, due to the arrival of the June-I’m-going-to-attack-you Cottonwood. So there have been lots of “Bless you, mommys” going on. He’s so darn cute, I wouldn’t care if he said, “Bless you, Bezzie” instead.

He is starting to say more words all together, which is so fun for a mommy (Bezzie) to hear. He mostly just uses one or two word phrases now, but he can definitely answer questions and I think his comprehension is pretty good.

Some recent bits and pieces of conversations with the dear boy:

Bezzie: “So, Brayden. . . what’s your favorite food?”
Brayden: “Uhh. Umm. Cereal” . . . Which actually is far from his favorite food, but hey, at least he told me a food.

Bezzie: “Good morning! How are you?”, as I walk into his room this morning.
Brayden: “Hi, mommy. Read”
Bezzie: “What should we read?”
Brayden: “Bear ate it” . . . a new book we got from the library.

Bezzie: “What did you do today?”
Brayden: “Balls” . . . his favorite activity in the whole wide world.
Bezzie: “What about them?”
Brayden: “Hit. Play golf. Golf cub? (club).

Bezzie: “Do you want to watch a movie?”
Brayden: “Yeah!”
Bezzie: “What should we watch?”
Brayden: “Um. . . “
Bezzie: “Little Einsteins?”
Brayden: “No.”
Bezzie: “Yo Gabba Gabba?”
Brayden: “No.”
Bezzie: “Well, what should we watch?”
Brayden: “Uh. Um. . . “
Bezzie: “Backyardigans?”
Brayden: “No.”
Bezzie: “Curious George?”
Brayden: “No.”

. . . You can see I really got an answer out of him on that one. I finally changed the subject and we started doing something else. He’s so decisive, that one.

And that’s the story of my past few days. And here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. And about the tutu. . . don’t ask.