follow up

This is a video of Olivia from July 2010.  She was 4.

I wanted to answer a few questions brought up from my last post and give full disclosure that I too, almost drowned a child or maybe 2 children, on accident.

And about my own drowning child.  Well actually, Olivia could swim. She was seriously like a swimming prodigy.  At 18 months she surprised us all in my dad's pool by letting go of JaDee and doing the proper breathing all the way to the edge. The next year we were at a friends house when she was  2 1/2 , and  we let her jump off the diving board without floaties while JaDee was treading water below her (she has actually never worn floaties until just recently so she can play Marco Polo with the big kids at Grandma's and not get so tired).   Well at 2 she always came up on her own and she always swam to the side by herself, but with JaDee just a stroke away. She did this over and over again that night and loved every minute of it.

One day shortly after this, we were at the Brigham City pool.  I was putting lunch away and Olivia was right by me.  Or so I thought. I looked up in time to see her take a dive in not the deepest part but at least way over her head. As I was running over to her the life guards jumped in pulled her out and handed her to me and gave me a lecture on watching my child.

OK little miss 16 years old.  I will for sure take parenting advice from you.  I then made a big deal about getting in with her and taking Olivia way out and letting her swim to  the wall right under that lifeguard's feet.
Olivia has actually gotten away from me at the pools on several occasions and gets really mad when the life guards make her get out of the deep end or won't let her jump off the diving board. Or worse, fish her out like she needs help or something. "But I didn't, Mom.  I was fine!"  I know sweetheart, they are just being careful.

We had her take the swim test here at our high school pool, (the very one Beanie got fished out of) and they would have put her as a level 4 swimmer (the highest) but she was not strong enough to swim a lap of the Olympic size pool.  That was the only thing she couldn't do off the level 4 checklist and they asked her to do that part last.  I bet she could do it if they asked her to do it first.

We have never put her in swim lessons because quite frankly, she would be bored practicing bobs and blowing bubbles in the water with other 3 year olds, but she isn't old enough or strong enough to be with 10 year olds.

In any case, I almost really and truly lost Ethan once.  He was about 6 or 7 and a decent swimmer.  Again, at the Brigham City pool he and Carter were playing around. It was really crowded and hot that day.  I was with Olivia in the 4 foot area so she could "Jump in deep, Mom." and keeping one eye on Ethan (always my wanderer and my loner) who could tire out trying to keep up with his brother or not realizing what he has gotten into.

Sure enough, I look over and Ethan is struggling way out in the 6-8 foot area all the way across the pool.  I am not a strong swimmer.  In fact, I can't even use the word swimmer to describe me in the water at all. I refused to put my face in the water as a child at the YMCA swim lessons and was stuck in polliwogs for 3 years while my 2 younger brothers graduated from sharks.

With the crowded pool and the ever vigilant 16 year olds keeping watch, I could tell by the look on Ethan's face, and maybe with a good dose of Mother's Intuition, this this could get scary fast.  Carter was sitting at the wall with me and Olivia so I said, "Carter, go help your brother. Quick!"  Carter is a very strong swimmer and bolted across the concrete and dove in straight to Ethan.

I couldn't see them with all the bodies in the pool, and trying to wrestle Olivia out to go to them, but the boys, a very proud Carter and a very shaken, but grateful Ethan, later told me what happened:

Carter reached Ethan and sure enough Ethan was scared and grabbed Carter and pulled him under trying to stay afloat. Carter disentangled himself from his brother's grasp, took one more big breath and went under to the bottom of the pool. There, Carter grabbed Ethan's ankles and put them on his own shoulders and walked along the bottom while Ethan paddled with his arms to the wall.

It was quite a ways out too. The Brigham Pool is bigger across than our pools here, and Ethan was in the dead center right before the high dive (for those of you familiar with the pool in BC).  Carter was very brave and a quick thinker to come up with how to help his brother.  I should have yelled to the nearest life guard to help, or given Olivia to Carter to watch while I tried to save Ethan, but not being a swimmer, and knowing what Carter could do, I reacted by sending one brother to fetch the other.

So I guess I am trying to say, don't be too hard on Beanies parents. They are clueless, for sure, but I have been an idiot on more than one occasion, and not just around water, with my kids. I guess the stories are funny because they aren't happening to me.  But I read a great line in a Stephen King book once (remember, I LOVE him and my dream job is to teach an English class devoted entirely to his books at the college level...) but I can't remember the book or who said it, (it is probably in The Stand) Anyway it goes something like this:

"God looks after drunks and children. They always seem to survive against all odds."