Bryan on a spy mission

Little Bryan and mom stayed with me all of last week. One night, I went swimming with my little brother, Bryan. We swam for about an hour…and it was getting to be 10:00 at night, so we had to wrap it up. My mom said, if you tell him you are staying 10 minutes, only stay about 5, he has no concept of time. Well, I ended up wanting to swim a little more, so we ended up staying about 20. Toward the end, I said that we had to leave…and being 9 years old and absolutely loving hanging with his sister, Bryan shouts “No, why do we have to go.” I then told him that we stayed an extra 20 minutes even though mom only told us 10. That seemed to resonate pretty clear. Not only was I trying to persuade him to leave, but I just confirmed that I was the coolest older sister ever because we stayed SO much longer than originally planned!

So, he still whined, but I quickly turned the tide by saying, “Tell you what, go and get that floaty at the end of the pool and bring it back, and then we will go.” Well, being the little 9 year old that he is, he swam to the floaty, climbed on top and began to swim (more like meander) back to the other side of the pool. He started singing, “Bryan’s on a spy mission, Byran is on a spy mission.” This lasted an additional 10 minutes as I am sure his imagination made him that much slower! So, as I patiently waited….obviously amused that he was taking his time, he pulls his head out of the water and says, “Do you want me to take this all the way back to other side of the pool and sing my theme song. I can do that.” I just couldn’t help but laugh! Deceptively clever….sly as a fox.


After I told him not to, we were leaving and he kept singing his theme song…over and over and over….and over. Normally, I am sure I would have slugged him or something to get him to shut up….but I didn’t…he sang and sang until he started and stopped….saying, ‘uh.’ I looked over at him and asked what was wrong. He totally forgot his name or what he was singing. It was hilarious. We ended up stopping because we were laughing so hard!

Oh, he kills me! I love it. We had a date on Friday followed by a campout with just us. Yes, I took him to Batman! Yes, I was warned that it was gruesome, but you know….mom said it was ok. Hah….we then went to my ward campout. All these singles and a 9 year old….I was totally psyched. Dude….just so everyone knows, my kid brother ROCKS! Seriously….I have always felt this special bond with this crazy 9 year old and love the time we have together.

A couple months ago, he was staying at my house and I started writing in my journal. He asked me what I was up to and I said that I was writing down some memories. He asked me how long I have been writing. I told him since I was about his age. He said, “Really, I want to see.” So I dug up one of my old journals and we read them together. It was awesome. At the end of reading several, he said that was ‘totally cool.’ SWEET. I am a totally cool sister!! Oh, I love it.

It was so fun to have him and my mom stay with me this past week. It really made life that much easier. I love playing with them….especially with my cute little bro, who keeps things moving and….interesting. LOVE YOU BABY!