The Undiscovered Country

Kids and Danger

Last Sunday, Dave's cousin Kyle and his wife Kim invited us to meet them on the Missouri River for the afternoon.

Well, yeah!

After a few (literal) false starts, Dave finally remembered how to start his boat. After not using it for two years, who can blame him? I can, because it's so much fun to tease the old man.

We piled in his boat to search for Kyle and Kim, but not before I made Thomas struggle into his life jacket. Poor guy, he did not want to wear it. He cried and cried until we started motoring up the river.

We found the cousins less than five minutes later near a sandbar. We then beached the boats and jumped out. Seeing how we were on wet, sandy land, I took Thomas' life jacket off. I figured the water was shallow enough he couldn't get into trouble.

As soon as I set Thomas down, he ran toward the water.

And down he went face forward into the water a mere three feet from shore. In that half-second, he not only started to sink, but the current was about to grab him.

I think I flew the five feet into the water to grab him.

I don't know who was more scared, me or Thomas. He cried for a few minutes until I changed him into dry clothes.

We stayed on the sandbar from about 2pm until 7:30. Most of that time I made sure Thomas was slathered with plenty of sunscreen, and multiple times tried to push him toward the shallow shore of the sandbar.

No, he kept wanting to dive off the deep end, even after that little scare.

What is it with kids and danger, anyway? I could have a slew of shiny, colorful toys sitting on a counter or table, and what does he go after? The knives and scissors if they're within reach (and his reach keeps getting longer). It doesn't matter if he's never seen one before, and that I have yet to tell him no. It's the one thing his little hands go after, and he smiles like he accomplished walking on the moon if he's quicker than I am.

Luckily he hasn't sliced himself. Or drowned.

Sheesh. No wonder parents get high blood pressure and lose their hair.

Here are a few photos of that day at the beach:

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As you can see, no permanent damage. You can also see why he sank. The boy's got no fat on his bones.

Oh, yeah. He likes to eat dirt.