After that, it kind of went downhill. Peter won't keep on sunglasses or a hat, so I lathered him in sunscreen to protect his skin, but there was nothing I could do for his eyes. He wasn't on the water long before the glare off the water made his eyes start to burn. They were visibly red and watery and he began to cry. He cried very loudly and we all tried to do whatever we could to help him calm down, but nothing helped. Finally, Benjamin agreed to get out of his kayak, attach it to the back of mine, and walk with Peter along the bank of the river while we kayaked. He made it about 20 meters before he called to Kelly, who was behind me, that he'd cut his foot on something. (I had counseled him to wear water shoes but he'd refused saying he didn't like them.) He said it with such calm that neither Kelly nor I thought it was too serious and Kelly jokingly replied, "Are you bleeding to death?" "Yeah, I am," came the equally dead-pan reply. Kelly and I turned our kayaks around to investigate and by the time we got there, Benjamin was standing in a pool of red. He must have stepped on something sharp because there was a deep gash in his heel, the entire width of his foot. Benjamin had downplayed a very serious injury again. Just like when he jammed the scissors into his palm and nearly went into shock but just calmly walked into the kitchen saying, "Look mom, I cut myself" like you'd say, "Look mom, I drew a smiley face on my hand," all the while trailing blood down the hallway. Kelly immediately had Bella switch into Benjamin's kayak and Benjamin sat in Kelly's with his foot up. Kelly speed paddled him back to the car and the first aid kit, while his foot bled all over the front of the kayak. I followed behind and saw the trail of blood in the parking lot when I got there. So, between Peter's crying and Benjamin's bleeding, we were only in the water for about an hour. We'd prepped and loaded up for 2 hours and had about an hour of clean-up afterwards, so it was definitely not the day we'd planned, but I'm glad we got out and did something. Bella and Christian got to soak in the river while Kelly and I patched up Benjamin's foot and Peter calmed down once we got him in the shade and away from the glare of the water. I think Peter would like to stick with watching the fish in his room instead. :)
Peter showed some more language recognition today. He was playing on the floor with some toys and it almost bed time so I wanted to feed him one more time before bed. I went over to him and asked, "Peter, are you hungry?" He stopped playing, looked up, and gave an excited smile and squeel. "If you're hungry," I replied, "You need to come with me so I can give you food." He immediately let go of the toy he was holding and reached both hands up to me so I could lift him up. This could all have been simply a reaction to seeing me (smiling, reaching for me) but it was so perfectly timed with my words that it seemed to me that he really understood what I was saying. It was so exciting to see. I can't wait until he starts actually speaking and having conversations.
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