Loose Ends

Chapter 33: Water Baby & August Rush

"Ready?" she asked, standing back up. He nodded and stood up, taking John by his left hand while Amy took his right. Together the little family slowly made their way down to the water. John found the water absolutely fascinating. The closer they got the water's edge the more he leaned forward trying to free his hands from his parents'. They finally let go and let him play in the water at the water's edge until he was used to the taste of the salt water. They both knew how much John liked to splash during his bath and silently agreed to let John decide when he wanted to go further out into the water. As expected, John decided to splash in the water and Amy giggled when John sputtered and looked shocked, not expecting the water to be salty. He recovered quickly and within minutes was happily splashing around, ecstatic to watch his footprints continually being washed away by the ebb and flow of the ocean. He turned to his mother with a smile on his face.

"Mommy! Go bye bye!" he said while pointing to his most recent pair of footprints being washed away by the ocean. He started to wade out further and Ricky held John by the waist so the force of the water wouldn't knock him over. Ricky needn't have worried because John was enjoying being pushed and pulled by the water. He squirmed to go further out and Ricky and Amy waded out into the ocean a little further, laughing as they watched their son splashing about with glee. Ricky began floating around in a small circle with John lying on his chest and John squealed with delight. After about the third circle John looked around for Amy, who was standing in water a little higher than waist deep just smiling at her boys.

"Come, mommy!" he called and before Ricky could catch him, John swam off his chest in the direction of Amy and promptly went under. Amy's heart stopped and she shot forward towards John but Ricky had grabbed him and brought him back to the surface not two seconds after going under. John sputtered for a couple of seconds before he started laughing. Amy and Ricky both breathed a sigh of relief.

"Again!" They looked at their son in disbelief before looking at each other. They moved a little closer to shore and helped John doggie paddle back and forth between them instead, allowing him to briefly go under the water if he wanted to, which he did. After exactly four minutes of assisting John in going back and forth between them he figured out how to doggie paddle on his own, not going underwater once. To say his parents were surprised would be an understatement. Amy was the first to recover.

"You're swimming all by yourself, John! Aren't you just the smartest little boy ever!" she told her son with a smile. Ricky took in the sight of Amy smiling, happiness written all over her face, as she held out her arms underwater to receive their son, who was paddling towards her all on his own while laughing and seared the image into his memory. "Okay, buddy. Swim back to daddy." John turned himself around and swam towards his father, still laughing and smiling. Ricky held out his arms underwater as well and John swam right into them. Ricky scooped up his son and gave him a kiss on the cheek. John accepted the kiss but moments later he was squirming to get down and swim around some more. Ricky looked at Amy and saw her smiling back at him. They had one pretty awesome kid. Amy noticed the smell of a dirty diaper when John reached her again so she scooped him up.

"Someone needs a diaper change," she told Ricky and they headed back towards their blanket. As with their trip to the zoo, as soon as John realized they were leaving the water he started fussing. "I know, baby. But someone has a smelly diaper." Amy reached into Ricky's beach bag for John's beach towel and quickly patted him dry. Ricky quickly patted himself dry as well and then held out his hands for John so Amy could dry herself off. He grabbed a clean diaper and a small pack of wipes out of the bag along with a dry pair of shorts. Amy put her sandals and sundress back on, much to Ricky's dismay, and then held out her hands for John and the supplies Ricky was holding. While she went to change John's diaper Ricky took out a few beach toys he'd packed for John, two water bottles for he and Amy, and John's sippie cup, filled with water. When Amy returned with John she put his sun hat on his head and she and Ricky played in the sand with him for a little while. John had just as much fun scooping sand into his little orange bucket with his matching orange shovel as he did in the water. Amy watched her son contentedly as he scooped up some sand with his shovel and turned towards his daddy. Ricky wasn't sure what John wanted him to.