We had talked about that point when our little girl would tumble into the pool by accident. She’s coming up on eighteen months now and loves the water but still hasn’t dunked her head under completely. She spends a lot of time walking up and down the steps and floating in her inflatable bee.
Of course as soon as we mentioned it this past week, her foot slipped on the second step and she fell backward into the pool. She quickly spun around underwater so that her belly faced the bottom of the pool … her mom’s hands were already reaching and pulling her out of the water. She had held her breath like we showed her, and she was still holding her breath until her mommy told her to breathe which she did. I reassured her she’s ok. We immediately took her back into the water so she wouldn’t be afraid the next time, and she hasn’t been afraid since.
Everything seemed to go textbook perfect for such a situation. But it bothered the hell out of me for days after because of the sheer helplessness in that spit second Ava was scrambling underwater. Man, a parent doesn’t like to see that vulnerability.