Happy Brother's Day!

Max was napping and Ryan and I left the boys in the house to listen for him so we could harvest the garden without having to run in and out of the house every two minutes. I'll admit, this is usually a recipe for disaster, but the stars must have been lined up just right this day. Reed poked his head out of the door only once, and just to ask us what letter made the "yuh" sound. A few minutes later he emerged with a card he'd made for Calvin and wanted to show me. "It's Brother's Day!" he announced, declaring a holiday I had once suggested when he asked why Mommy and Daddy got a special day, but kids didn't. The picture he held up had a message written in scribbles, and a painstakingly-scribed "i luv y yuu" above a picture of Calvin in his Lone Ranger costume. Never mind that Reed's rendition of Calvin resembled a racoon with a lasso, this was the sweetest thing EVER. Being the emotional Mommy that I am, I got a little choked up. Reed, the tender-hearted one in the family, gave me a sweet hug and said, with a sheepish grin on his face, "You can take a picture of us." This is the shot we got of the Lone Ranger and Randy.

The Lone Ranger and His Faithful Sidekick, Randy

My summer naptime bribery is that if either big boy actually falls asleep (and the other boy doesn't make a peep) they can watch a short movie after naptime (Oh, how I pray they will comply, since it means double Mommy time!). Since we currently have ZERO television stations and have grown a little tired of our Scooby Doo DVD, we checked out some old-school entertainment from the library: The Lone Ranger. After watching their first episode, they were hooked. They donned cowboy hats and boots and convinced me to make masks out of old stretchy headbands. Eventually, they recruited Papa to draw a pistol on cardboard so they'd be armed and dangerous. But in the early days of playing Lone Ranger, one of them decided that they couldn't both play the Ranger (he is lone, after all). So, being the little brother, Calvin got demoted to sidekick status. That was OK by him once he found a headband and a few feathers. He dubbed himself Randy, insistent that he heard on the show that was the name of the Lone Ranger's friend. No amount of arguing would convince Randy that maybe he has misheard his name. So, I let him go find his friend and get back to outwitting bad guys, galloping around the house.

Several episodes later, two things happened. First, I downloaded the William Tell Overture onto my iPod so I could illicit galloping on a whim. Second, Randy magically changed his name to Tonto, insistent that I had misheard him - he was never Randy. Whatever.