SHARKS!

So, I have this pretty amazing brother-in-law, Brian Bell. For many reasons we think he's awesome. Aside from taking really good care of my baby sister, he's a pretty smart guy. He seems to know a lot about a lot of things....with one big exception. He's not much of an expert when it comes to kids. For example....

Back in December we all met in San Antone to spend Christmas with Brian's family. This was an opportunity for both families to meet before the big wedding day in April. It also gave Brian some one on one time with Clinton...and Clinton has not forgotten...

Clinton and Brian had all of about 90 seconds together at a table in the lobby of the hotel one morning. I'm not sure if it was out of sheer panic, or if he really thought it was appropriate, but Brian had a "bright" idea.

He whipped out his Blackberry and showed Clinton a video. Not a children's video. Not even a cartoon directed at adults. But a poorly edited, poorly directed video of a shark eating a man in the ocean. I'll repeat....A SHARK EATING A MAN!

To be fair, an adult would know that the man had been edited in and it was not a live taping. A two year old cannot discern such advancements in technology.

I wasn't there when it happened, but mom walked up at the tail end of the viewing as Brian scrambled to get his Blackberry back in his pocket. Apparently, Clinton sat silent. He didn't have a single thing to say. He just spent a few minutes absorbing it. Brian thought he was in the clear.

A minute later Rodney walks up and Clinton immediately blurts out as loud as he can, "DAD!! He ate a boy! The shark ate a boy!" Brian then had to fess up and show all of us what he had showed Clinton. We laughed because it was funny....until....Brian followed up with, "Hey, Clinton. You better be careful. Sharks live in your bathtub." WHAT????

That's okay Brian. Your kids are coming. And I am filing these precious moments in my mental file. I'll be happy to return the favor. Sorry, Chelsea.

So, anyway...it's important to know all that to understand this...

From time to time, Clinton will remember this video and just shout out, "Mom! He ate a boy! The shark ate a boy!"

Also, anytime we pass a pond, go over a bridge, see an ocean on TV, or go to the pool, Clinton always looks at me very seriously and asks, "Mom...there sharks in there?" He's even refused to get in his bath a time or two insisting there were sharks in there.

And now, SHARKS are his favorite game to play. We put a pool at the bottom of our slide and Clinton pretends the pool is full of sharks. He slides down into the water, then as quickly as he can, he scrambles up out of the water and scales the slide up to the top while screaming, "Sharks! Sharks! Watch out for the sharks!"

I tried to play along, and when Gracie (our black Scottish Terrier) jumped in his pool, I said, "Clinton, look! It's another shark in your pool!"

His response was a very serious, very condescending, "No, mom. That's Shamu!" Oh....excuse me.

Heidi Sage, on the other hand, doesn't believe in sharks and spends all her pool time looking super cute and staying super busy going from pool to pool with toys and cups and whatever else she can carry.

Preparing my master plan for the Bell children,