Spies and switched identities

Ryan was going to play Candyland with Jeanne after dinner, but when I asked Ethan if he wanted to come with me to take the dog for a walk, Ryan immediately said "I want to go!" I warned him that if he went with me Candyland was out of the question tonight. He didn't care.

We donned some warm jackets and set off. He skipped along next to me offering me his theories about why the birds were being so noisy. I have to admit that I never considered that they were complaining because it was much early to go to bed. I also never thought that they might be having dinner and telling each other what they did during the day. I suggested that they might be saying good night to each other, but Ryan explained that birds only say good night after the sunlight is completely gone.

Ryan wanted to walk through the school parking lot and along a curving street toward the park. I don't generally walk along that street because the trees and bushes aren't well maintained. He pointed out the sidewalks were not clean and that "whoever works in these buildings needs to have a clean up day because all the garbage lying around is rude." I couldn't agree more. He suggested we pick it up as we walk, but soon realized taht there was more garbage than we could carry and that there aren't any rubbish bins in which to put the trash we had picked up.

After a few blocks, a couple turned from a side street onto the street we walking along. "Shhhh," Ryan told me, "See those guys up there? Those guys are spies for real."

"Really? How can you tell?"

"Because Ba, they're wearing blue shirts and dark pants. All the spies wear that."

"Oh, OK. How do you know that's what spies wear?"

"Because I'm a spy!" You can't argue with that.

The couple turned off, and we turned back toward the house. Ryan announced that he was cold. He wouldn't wear a hat or gloves when we left the house,so this didn't surprise me. "Would you like my hat?" What a silly questions. About a block later he was wearing my gloves as well.

He held out his hands, my gloves dangling off them, and announced, "I am Mister Ba."

I laughed. "You are Ryan and I am Ba."

"No sir. You are wrong. You are Ryan, and I am Ba. See?" He held out his hands again.

I tapped the top of his head. "I am bigger, and you are littler. I am Ba, and you are Ryan."

He came right next to me. "OK. Stop please." I stopped. He put his little foot next to mine. He looked caught out.

"See? Your foot is smaller. You are Ryan."

"No way!" He ran ahead and stopped near the dog. "Make him stand still please." I had the dog stand still. "See?" He put his foot next to Croydon's. "My foot is bigger. I am Mister Ba!" He danced ahead of me. "I am big and I can do anything and I can cross the street all by myself!"

"Not yet," I tell him. "you still need my hand."

He considered this as we approached a busier street. "OK," he said at last. He took my hand. We crossed the street. Halfway across he grinned at me. "I am holding your hand. I am Ba and you are Ryan."

"I am holding your hand."

"No no no! I am holding your hand." We walk another block. "How long until we get home?"

"Only three more blocks. Do you want to jump up and be my backpack guy?"

"OK Ba."

"I thought you were Ba."

"No. I decided that you're big enough to be Ba." I pulled him onto my back. We walked toward home. "Ba?"

"What love?"

"Will you always be my Ba?"

"Yup. Will you always be my Ryan?"

"Uh-huh. You can have your hat now."