How About Some Support?

Braden has really started to grow up.  Yeah, I know that is a little like Captain Obvious saying (in a super-hero voice)  "Today (dramatic pause)  is... SUNDAY."  As if the rest of the world doesn't know what day of the week it is.  Watching your kids grow up is well, weird.  You want to savor every moment- and somehow you feel like it's more survival than savoring...kinda like eating mac n' cheese, but you can't taste the cheese cause you're so caught up in putting out fires, you actually forgot to put the cheese in the pot...or something like that.  But back to Braden- about his growing up... well, there are tell tale things, like not having to ask him as many times to do his school work, less groaning about helping out, watching him hurry up to the top of a 6 story water slide with no hesitation, witnessing him lead a camp cabin of boys in a solo rendition of "Pharaoh, Pharaoh," guarding him silently as he traipsed through the creek, or finding out that he peed on Red Eye's Grave  (a whole different story).  But, the thing I find most entertaining is his attempt at correct language as explores the usage of words.   I was fully entertained a few weeks back, as we headed back from Atlantic Beach, and Braden "tested out" his knowledge.
       It had been a long day- we had driven 3 hours to the beach- jumped in the waves, collected shells, gone to the pool and the water slide (not that six story one...).  Now we were exhausted and on our 3 hour drive home.  Everyone was silent when suddenly, Braden started to complain about his neck.  Evidently we should have reapplied sunblock, because he was feeling it.  With strong emotion and a good dose of irritation, Braden announced:  "We HAVE to go to the store- I NEED something to support my sunburn!"  Well, I, being such a good mommie burst out laughing, because of course I was already picturing  some logs to hold that sunburn up (cause that would help...right?!?)  He was not impressed...and I of course knew what he meant.  After calming him down, and reassuring him aloe would help, I realized that his word usage wasn't too far off, and that my boy was in fact, growing up.