Marshmallows & Shark Tanks

We were driving home from church small group last night, and, about five minutes down the road, Caleb pipes up with, "I've got to go poo-poo." He has this habit of "having to go" a few minutes into every car ride, even if I ask him just before we leave. We were still about 20 minutes from home, but I asked him if he could wait until we got home. He said no emphatically, so I brought out the big guns and offered him a marshmallow if he was willing to wait. He quickly and cheerfully agreed. Without missing a beat, Ethan cries urgently from the backseat, "I've got to go poo-poo!" I knew he didn't have to go, but he had me in a corner, so I promised him a marshmallow, too. I've got to give the kid props for making the most of every opportunity :)

The other story happened at the McWane Center on Friday. I hesitate to even post this because it is hard to describe exactly what happened, but here's my best shot. The McWane Science Center has a touch tank that contains stingrays and bonnethead sharks (follow the link for a picture). Children stand on a sloped step that is flush with the tank, lean over a little, and reach into the tank to touch the rays and sharks as they swim by. My kids have touched these sharks and rays many times since the exhibit opened about a year ago. I always keep my finger looped into Ethan's back beltloop while his arm is in the tank, just in case he loses his balance. I never expected that Caleb would be the one to tumble in.

It was just a bad combination of Caleb being too tall for where he was standing and the step underneath him being a little wet and slippery. He leaned a little too far forward to touch an approaching shark and his right foot slipped out from under him. His waist was too far above the side of the tank, and his center of gravity quickly shifted and caused him to tumble forward. I was standing right behind him, but my right hand was tied up holding Ethan's belt loop. I grabbed Caleb's left arm with my left hand, freed my right hand, and grabbed Caleb's flailing leg with that hand. The poor little guy was literally parallel with the water, with all of his upper body hovering over the shark tank, his hips resting on the side, and his legs sticking out behind him.

I pulled him off the tank and was amazed that only the left sleeve of his shirt had gotten wet. I was with a friend, and we were both pretty stunned by what had just happened. We'd both heard that a kid had fallen in there once, and now we finally knew how that could happen. Caleb was a little shaken up by it all and he cried a little bit...I think more from embarrassment than fear. I was a little shaken up too, but mostly just glad that I was able to catch him before he went all the way in. (As well as grateful that I hadn't inadvertently dumped Ethan in the tank while trying to free my hand from his belt loop :)