Our pool is open for this year! And I remembered why we typically wait until later in the summer to open it. Helicopters! They're everywhere and they're still falling and I hate them! They get all over the cover, they sink to the bottom, they clog up the filter and get stuck in the vacuum bag!
Jacob and Jeremy took their first swim on Tuesday while I was at work. Jacob and I went for a dip last night and it was great. Until one little second just split.
Jacob can touch the bottom of the pool this year with about 2 inches to spare. Jeremy had told me that Jacob was in the pool without a tube when they swam but, I put Jacob in the tube when we first got in because I knew I needed to do some skimming and couldn't give him my full attention. When I was done skimming, I pulled him out of the tube and was watching him show me how big he was walking in the pool by himself (holding my hand). In the corner of my eye, I saw a big clump of helicopters falling from the tree and it brushed my arm as it came to land in the pool. I was watching Jay, grabbed the hunk of helicopter, looked right, threw it out, turned back and Jacob was GONE! I looked down and he was under the water. I saw his little brown head in contrast to all of the blue from the pool liner. I didn't panic (my heart didn't even leap, oddly) but reached down and pulled him up by his underarms and he did a "GASP!" as I pulled him up.
"Mommy? Why'd I slip?"
"It's slippery sometimes. You're okay. And that is why you never, never, never go swimming without Mommy or Daddy."
"Don't let me go? K, Mommy?"
We're very careful with/in/around the pool. Making sure Jacob is through the tube or one of us is hanging on to him. We enforce that he's not to even be by the pool without Jeremy or I. We take the phone out with us when we go in - just in case and set it on the arm of the chair by the ladder that holds our towels. I know CPR (I could use a re-certification) and took the child's course as well. Seriously, I turned for a split second and he'd slipped under.
It can happen that fast!
You can think that you watch your kids really well, and I do - for Jacob to be out of my sight is rare. You can think that you're careful and this won't happen to you - I did! My kid went underwater in a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a second that I turned. I thank God that I did do everything right and I was right there when it happened but, let me tell you I never thought it would happen to me and I certainly never believed it would happen that fast.
Enjoy your summer, enjoy the water - and please, please be careful with your kids in the water. If you already think that you are (like I did) I hope you'll remember this and think again.
This is so scary. We had a similar thing happen in the bathtub. I was right there, my eyes actually never left him, and yet he slipped under. All was fine, I was able to pull him up quick enough, but it was a scary reminder of how quickly they can go under. So glad J was okay!
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