Sneaking up on the Atlantic

Dash has been content to make sand castles and
keep his distance from the crashing waves here
at the beach. All my entreaties have met with his
stubborn refusals to go near the water. Until I
thought of the technique Monkeyrotica used to get
Dash to go to his classroom at preschool. They'd
"sneak up" on his teachers and yell "BOO!", then
he'd be ready to start his day.

I grabbed Dash's hand, crouched down, and
whispered, "Dash! Let's sneak up on the waves!"

He hissed back, "Okay!" And we stealthily goose-
stepped up to the Atlantic shoreline and stomped
on the shallow waves lapping up around our ankles.
Then Dash would yell, "Here comes a bigger one!!"
And run, shrieking, back up to the dry sand; repeat
until exhausted. Dash was waist high in the surf
after a while and didn't seem to care.

The next day, I found Dash & Mr. Monkey with
shovels in the wet sand. Dash was shoveling sand
and tossing it into the ocean. I asked, "What're you
up to, Dash?"

"I'm feeding my wave-friends!"