I wanna be a cowboy baby....

So the bull-o-rama has hit us again.  Several weeks ago, I took a girl's vacation to Minneapolis.  While I was out of town, the boys took in the bull-o-rama.  Ever since, Braxton has become obsessed.  He's pulled out the old cowboy boots and hat that he wore for weeks after last year's events, and has been wearing them ever since.

He doesn't wear them to daycare.  But the second he gets home, the tennies come off, the boots go on, and the hat is in place.  If we go anywhere after coming home, he goes as "Cowboy Braxton", whether it's someone's house, the grocery store, Dairy Queen, it doesn't matter.  Sometimes, when he is really into his role, he will only responds to "Cowboy Braxton".  It goes like this - "Braxton, come here".  Silence.  "Braxton..."  "(from the other room) Mom!  I am Cowboy Braxton!"  "Ok, Cowboy Braxton, come here."  "(him, running down the hall) Whadya need, Mom??"  Ugh.

This cowboy lifestyle leads way to several fun activities.  Sometimes, Braxton is "the good cowboy".  He runs around with his pistol shooting the "bad/naughty cowboys" (sometimes up to 50 of them!).  He told me the other day "Don't worry Mom, I will shoot those naughty cowboys for you".  I guess chivalry is not dead!

And during other times, we spend our evenings playing "rodeo".  Interestingly, Braxton is not the bull-riding cowboy.  No, he is the bull-fighting cowboy (you know, the guy that comes behind and shoos the bull back into it's pen - that guy).  It is just crazy to watch his little mind work!  My job is to cheer.  I cheer for the imaginary cowboy, then I cheer for the bull-fighter.  Kyler's job is to play the "baby bull-fighter".  That job entails running around in circles until you fall down, I guess.  Braxton even had his dad corralling bulls and spurring scarecrows the other day.   As you can see, it's a family event.

Now that Braxton is officially a cowboy, of course, it is important that he have bulls.  So, that's what he has.  A whole herd of imaginary bulls that go everywhere "Cowboy Braxton" goes.  Usually, they are pretty quiet.  I'm told that they sleep and eat a lot, which explains that.  Whatever Cowboy Braxton is doing or feeling, they are doing or feeling ("Mom, my bulls are tired/hungry/happy/etc.")  And usually I end up hauling them around in the back of the Envoy.  Braxton says they don't mind it, and that it's not too crowded, but I have to wonder...