The Good, the Bad, and the Precious

The Good:
The last couple of days have been quite warm around here - kind of a resurgence of summer. Normally that isn't my favorite thing, but it is pretty fun to experience a last few hot days with the kids before we pack away swimsuits and pull out the long pants. So today I got the boys all set for one of our favorite hot weather activities - going to the mall. The boys get to wear their swimsuits and I let them romp around in an area where water shoots up from the ground, specifically for the amusement of young kids who just love getting wet. Then we go eat lunch and get ice cream. So off we went. We had a great morning, even though the water spouts were turned off for the season. We made up for it with a train ride and a session in the jumpy.

The Bad:
Since the water was off, I decided to let them splash their hands in some fountains that are also located at the mall. They are great fountains with huge statues of dolphins surrounded by pools of water. The boys were so excited, splashing each other, laughing and getting wet. I always thought it was super gross when people let their kids touch fountain water, but my standards have changed since I had kids of my own. I don't consider it a big deal anymore. We do have some rules, however. Water must stay in the fountain, and feet must always stay on the ground. Well, Ethan decided to scrap the second rule, and one of my nightmares came true. He leaned too far over the edge and before I could grab him, he went head first into the fountain, which was about two feet deep. It was one of those horrible slow motion moments where you see it happening and just can't seem to move fast enough to prevent it. I grabbed him and pulled him up, SO relieved to see that he was unhurt and breathing. Breathing so well in fact that he was screaming. Understandable. I was pretty traumatized as well.

The Precious:
When Ethan was back on dry ground, the first thing he screamed was "Where is my brother?!" I pointed to Lucas, who was right next to him. Ethan opened his arms as wide as he could, and sobbing, said "Lucas, hug!" And Lucas gave him the sweetest hug I've ever seen. Then Ethan turned to me for more hugs. I couldn't believe it. I don't know if he was looking for comfort from Lucas or was afraid something happened to his brother too, but in the midst of what was a terrible moment, the most precious and fabulous thing had happened. There is just nothing like watching these two boys really get that they have something special between them. Something really happened in that moment for them. The rest of the afternoon they were best friends, sharing, encouraging each other, laughing together and looking out for one another. In fact, after we put them to bed, we heard Ethan talking to Lucas, recounting the whole story: "I fell in the water and when I was standing I said 'Lucas' and you hugged me and then Mommy hugged me."

But back to the story. Ethan quickly regained his composure and said "I went under the water." I said yes, and asked him if he was okay. Then I complimented him on holding his breath like we had learned in swim class, but told him never to let his feet off the ground at the fountain again. He jumped right back into splashing with Lucas, even though I now had a death grip on both of them. And when Daddy asked what we did at the mall, Ethan said he swam with the dolphins.