Mr. Fish

P seems to be settling in and enjoying himself. We watched Gramps play polo yesterday while we simultaneously played diggers with the little boy from two barns down. Then I took a lovely break while he and my mom played trucks together. When I returned he said "Mama. I have to tell you something. I have Funfunfun with Grams!!!" We ran through the rain and then bought more mushroom quiche at Whole Foods for the egg and mushroom addict. On the way home he pretended Grams was a cab driver who had kidnapped us. Baby Brother screamed at passing cars for help and repeatedly freaked when the cab driver turned on the windshield wipers, all amid sadistic giggles. Oh the drama.

We did some shopping this morning for the infamous "James" train he's had on his list and summer stuff. He consistently picks out bright, flowery dresses for me, or pink flip flops. Guess he's tired of cargo pants and brown shirts:) When we got home Gramps informed us the pool was warm and P didn't waste a second putting on his suit. He hasn't swam since last August but surprisingly acclimated in about 2 seconds (what problem transitioning?). Sucking down water really upset him last summer, but today he'd just spit and swim, occasionally wiping boogers on my arm. We started out keeping BB dry, just a voyeur, but that also lasted about 2 seconds. P couldn't stand the idea of missing a rescue mission (or was it the drowning BB part?). So he decided BB could stay dry on the boogie board. After about 2 rescues P chucked him into the pool saying he would dry:) That poor doll.

We paddled around for 2 hours. When he tired of tossing BB's body halfway across the pool he became a sea monster hunting BB. He captured him and swam him to our cave. Baby Brother's pathetically soaked carcass made a waterfall down our rocky cave and P drank the salty runoff as a sea creature would. Eventually, (he is part Schultz) he was determined to "surf" and demanded his little body balance, standing, on the boogie board. Mission accomplished, he had me pull him to once again rescue BB. Then he took out his shark and chased Baby Brother, BB's scared screams making P's day. Then he tried to hold BB under water to drown him, pushing him under with his legs, sitting on him. Much to his dismay, BB really, truly floats ;) Despite all of his brutish behavior towards Baby Brother, he kept tabs on the monster's whereabouts. When BB rounded the pool corner without Phoenix's knowledge P glanced around and frantically screamed "where's Baby Brother?!" But as soon as he pegged BB's location he was back to his previous thought. Its an interesting mix of extreme attachment and "oh, we can just play with something else if he dies."

P did a lot of jumping into the water too, fully submerging himself occasionally. He came up choking and sputtering and... laughing. A much more daring approach in the pool than last summer. I suggested losing the floaties, but he wasn't feeling quite That daring. Maybe tomorrow...