It was towards the end of our session, and Liesa had her son Braylon in his full Dayton Ducks gear. I photographed his batting helmet with a grimacing duck, his prized batting gloves that formed an image when he put his hands a certain way, the bright green uniform that hung off of his rapidly growing frame. He was  eager to show off his batting form and dropped down with a quickness with his brown leather glove touching the grass, his bright blue eyes at full attention. At one point he put his ball cap on and pulled it down low over his brow.

“Show me your mean face!” I asked as I pulled my camera up to capture whatever face he used on his competitors.

He smiled from ear to ear.

“Braylon, the face you use for the other team,” his mom tried.

He smiled bigger.

I tried my best game face to show him what we were asking. He laughed (and I don’t blame him) and then he tried, but then smiled again.

“This is my mean face!” he said, practically beaming.

Liesa, if that is the meanest that your boy can get, then you are WINNING at motherhood right now. I enjoyed getting to know your boy, your family, and all the happiness that you all share. And if at the next game the stare down between Braylon and his opponent consists of him grinning like that – I’d say he might just have an upper hand on the mind games of athletes 🙂