When Ethan was a toddler he continually had some sort of bruise on his head. I never had to coax him to try something new (with the exception of food) and I had to watch him like a hawk because he would take off without me and not even look back. He has been a daredevil from the beginning. I honestly don't know how we have made it 7 years without a broken bone.
So, I was not really surprised when we went to a water park and Ethan wanted to go down all the slides! He loved them and didn't seem the least bit scared about riding them! But...there was one slide we thought would be just a little too scary for him. It was a racing slide with 6 lanes where you lay down on a mat and went head first on your belly down a VERY VERY steep slide! After leveling off a little you hit a second slide that was just as steep as the first. HG went off to do this slide by himself while the kids did an obstacle water course. When he came back Ethan immediately piped up about going too. I cringed because HG had just told me that it was an intimidating slide, but HG said ok and off they went. Naomi and I were standing at the bottom of the slide to see them come down. We saw them take off and we saw HG come sliding in to the end of the ride along with all the other racers, but there was no sign of Ethan.
Then... I looked up to see "my baby" stuck and teetering at the top of the second hill. Although, I kept it under wraps I was honestly panicking on the inside. I saw no steps and no way to get to him, I feared one wrong step and he would fall down the slide the wrong way and break his neck. Ethan, however, seemed to be very calm as he looked to the lifeguards for help. They started yelling at him to push with his arms which he tried without success. The lifeguards again yelled at him to keep trying as did all the other people standing around ( I don't think I was the only one there freaking out on the inside). Ethan tried again and again until FINALLY the mat got loose and Ethan came zooming down the slide safe and sound to loud cheers from all the spectators standing around.
He stood up calmly and just smiled - like nothing had even happened. All the people at the bottom of the slide and people that came down from the top of the slide praised Ethan, shook his hand, gave him high 5's, and patted him on the back for being so brave. I told him how proud I was that he didn't start freaking out and just calmly followed the directions of the lifeguards and that he didn't give up. Ethan smiled and said, "Yeah, that's why all those people came up to me and now I'm famous!" I'm afraid I'm raising another Evel Knievel!
