Bringing up Biscuit: More from the beach

Let me start by saying that everyone is alive and well.

Then let me add that my husband almost let my son drown in the ocean.

Well, actually, Biscuit's head never even got wet, but when you are as afraid of water as I am, it was easy to jump to that conclusion.

We were out walking on the beach, and Biscuit and Jeff were trying to outrun the waves. I had walked ahead of them looking for a few seashells to add to the sand table at Biscuit's day care.

I heard a holler and turned around to see Biscuit lying in the water with only his head sticking up.

Biscuit and Jeff would stand right at the edge of the water and wait as long as they could before turning to run away from the waves. Biscuit was wearing a sweat suit and his firefighter boots (which are actually rain boots). Biscuit looked toward me for just a second, and a bigger wave caught him off guard.

Water rushed into his firefighter boots, so when he tried to turn and run, he couldn't lift his feet. So over he went!

I think my heart skipped a few beats, and I know my lungs went a little wacky because I couldn't catch my breath. Biscuit's head was out of the water the whole time. He even kept his sunglasses on. But I don't recall being so paralyzed with fear. There was no way I could've gotten to him before the next wave came, but I felt myself trying to move ... but I couldn't. I felt numb all over.

After the fact, I'm really glad I didn't run to Biscuit. I think he would've seen me panic, and he would've thought he was supposed to panic. When Biscuit falls, he always looks straight to my face to see how I'm going to respond. I think he's trying to figure out how bad it is by seeing how I react. He's been doing that since he was wee little.

I fought hard today and was able to keep a straight and calm face. I'm not sure if it was fear taking over or if I did it consciously, but either way, I'm glad he didn't see me panic.

Of course, it was all Jeff's fault. Who else could I blame?

He scooped Biscuit up and just started talking to him like nothing had happened.

Then Biscuit looked up and said, "DAD! You're my hero! You saved me! You picked me back up from those waves. You're my hero!"

Jeff looked at me smiling, and I said, "Don't think I'm going to agree with him. You almost let my baby drown!"

Jeff and I each had one of Biscuit's hands, helping him walk back to the room. It was a pretty long walk, and I know Biscuit had to be cold. He was soaked.

We had brought down a bag of sand shovels and buckets to build sand castles, so as we were getting close to the stairs to go back to the hotel, Biscuit said, "Mom, don't forget the sand castle buckets and shovels."

I smiled at Jeff and said, "Dad is going to get that stuff. And he's going to do a lot of other things Mama tells him to do, too!"

"That's right, boy," Jeff said.

When we got to the door of the hotel, I stripped Biscuit down to his underwear. There's a short hall that leads to the elevator, so I figured Biscuit in his underwear would be better than him dripping water all the way up to our room.

He pushed the button for the elevator, and for the first time since we've been here, the doors opened and people were getting off. And Biscuit was standing there ... wet ... just in underwear.

"He fell into the ocean," I said, like I needed to explain that I don't ordinarily let my kid run around in his underwear in cold weather and in strange places. The people just smiled and kept walking.

As soon as we got to the room, Jeff and Biscuit went straight into the shower. Some warm pajamas and a leftover slice of pizza later, Biscuit was feeling good again.

I am so thankful that Biscuit doesn't seem the least bit traumatized by the incident. I could see where it could completely freak him out, but if one of us had to be standing beside him when it happened, I'm glad it was Jeff and not me.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from our day:

The morning started with chocolate chip muffins on the balcony. Biscuit was
wearing Lightning McQueen jammies with remnants of his Halloween costume.

Biscuit was fascinated by the fishing boats.

It's hard to get family pictures taken, but I found a deck
railing in a perfect spot to use the self-timer on the camera.

Jeff explains to Biscuit why the sailboats have to "park" in the water instead of in the boat
slips. There were a couple of sailboats on land, so Biscuit got to see how tall the keels are.