Rainy Day and Reminiscing

It pretty much rained non-stop today and we pretty much weren't prepared. No raincoats, no umbrella, nothing.
I left my house at 9:30 and didn't really come home until the kids were done with school, so from the gym to kindergarten to lunch to errands, Alex and Owen and I had to sprint from one thing to the next. At one point after a long, wet run (the gym had an annoyingly full lot for a Friday and we had to park far, far away) we hurriedly slammed our car doors, panting, soaked and laughing in the warm dry haven of the car, and I turned back to see the most euphoric look on my 6 year old's face...this serene, happy smile with dreamy faraway eyes.
"You loved that didn't you?" I asked.
"That was awesome!" he replied breathlessly with his cheshire grin.

It made me think of this day back in October...

And many other rain storms where the first thing he wants to do is go run out and play in it and often does. It made me think of a time when he was not even 2 and I was watering some flowers outside our old house and I accidentally turned with the hose and got him all wet. Worried that the shock of the water and the strong water pressure would cause some tears (his older twin siblings still wanted me to hold a washcloth over their eyes when I rinsed their hair in the bathtub! (I chalk it up to first-time parenting)) I quickly dropped the hose to scoop him up with apologies and hugs but to my surprise... "Again! Again!" my little 18 month old cried. And for a solid 20 minutes I did just that... Sprayed down my baby to squeals and laughter. "Again, again," he cried if I ever let up.
This kid has an affinity for water.

Where my twins would cling to me like starfish when toddlers in the pool, Alex would wiggle to get loose and try to push off me to swim away. He learned to swim when he was 2. He's never used goggles; doesn't like them. He eerily smiles at you underwater with his eyes wide open. He learned to dive and swam to the bottom of our 8 ft deep end before the twins (who are 3 years older than him). He does flips off of piers into cold Lake Tahoe and jumps off of boulders into Bullard's Bar. He loves the ocean and boogeyboarding and tide pools. He rides the scariest waterslides that his height will allow him (or that he can sneak onto--think "the Toilet Bowl" in a sketchy Mexican waterpark. yikes.) He loves watersports like tubing and kneeboarding and wakeboarding. I can't wait so see him dominate the 6 & Unders at swim team this summer since he was an alternate for 1st heat last year as a 5 year old!
I'm convinced he's part fish.
I'm looking for gills.

"Can I get my swimsuit and rain boots on when we get home?"
"Maybe after school, buddy. We'll see..."