Three weeks ago Landon wouldn’t put his face under water without a good deal of weeping and gnashing of teeth.  If water splashed even in the vicinity of his eyes, he wailed and stumbled around blindly until he was given a towel to wipe away the unwelcome and foreign liquid from his face.

Then one day he decided he wasn’t scared anymore.  And now I’m the one who is terrified.  Because my cautious baby with a healthy respect for the water has turned into this:

While in the ocean, he is required to leave his swim vest on.  As soon as we enter the pool, though, the vest comes off and he is ninety to nothin’, balls to the walls, kamikaze, I’m-gonna-cause-Mama-to-gray-early scary.  Twice we’ve had to tell him not to do front flips off the side. To which he replies with wide eyes, “Why, Mom?  It’s so fun!”

This is why, starting tomorrow, he will be in swim lessons every day for the next two weeks.  Fun for him, peace of mind for me – everybody wins.  I knew swim lessons were going to be important when we moved to Florida.  Now, however, they have become a necessity.

While the other two were brave in the water, neither were this…um…terrifying.  Here they all are (with my cousin Leslie’s little boy) jumping off the back of the boat together:

You’ll notice the older three are all wearing masks to prevent salt water up the nose.  Not Landon.  Nope.  Salt water doesn’t phase him a bit.  That kid’s gonna have the cleanest sinuses on the block.

He’s a brave one, my little guy.  I have no idea where he gets it from:

What about you?  Do you have a child who is aging you early?