Kiddie Pool

RyanC went swimming at the community pool on Sunday evening. It was the first time he went this year. He had an entourage consisting of grandpa, grandma, uncle and mommy. I stayed home to watch baby AidanC since I was too exhausted...

Then the other night I watched the video captured by RyanC's uncle...

RyanC was giggling and laughing in the kiddie pool with grandma standing in the water with him. Mommy was standing to the side of the pool taking pictures. RyanC was having a ball.. and he was also grabbing onto this big and colorful beach ball and moving it around in the pool. Grandpa called out to RyanC to ask for the beach ball. The little boy then walked across the shallow water to give the beach ball to grandpa, who was sitting a few feet from the pool, a few feet from uncle who was filming the happy boy. Then little RyanC walked back into the kiddie pool. Here is mommy's view of this:



Well, what follows was rather surreal...

RyanC stepped into the pool, lost his balance, and then fell face down into the water. On the video, I heard wife saying "hurry!" while RyanC was struggling unsuccessfully to come to surface. In the background, grandma was standing there in shock, not knowing what to do... even though she was standing in the water and a few feet away from RyanC. It seemed pretty scary to watch RyanC's submerging body with little hands/legs not finding a place to push up. Soon, super mommy showed up in the view, handed the camera to grandpa (who just stood up) urgently, and then went into the water to pick up the not-so-thirsty boy.

I counted the time silently as the disturbing images played on... it took about 5-6 seconds for da boy to be rescued.

RyanC wimpered with a few weak cries. Wife pushed on RyanC's tummy and that forced some water out of his mouth... A few minutes later, RyanC was back into the pool as if nothing had happened. Everyone kept a close eye on him but no one stood next to him in the water.

This was caught on tape by the dedicated video-capturing uncle, whose calm hands enabled us to have these unforgettable images/sounds. The video was as nerve-wrecking as wife's story afterwards. We are all relieved that RyanC is okay. Grandma was too traumatized by this -- she does not want to take RyanC to the kiddie pool again.

Coincidentally, recently RyanC also started having nightmares and would go hysterical around 3:30am-4:30am, requiring someone to hold him and calm him down afterwards. We have no idea if it has anything to do with the kiddie pool incident since he does not yet tell us about his nightmares. However, based on some sleep-toddler-talk heard by grandpa, it might be related to the flying bird incident, where a bird flew into him and scared him so much that he is now afraid of anything (fly, moth, butterfly, bee) that flies near-by.

Today RyanC said "ba ba" and "ma ma" several times to me on the phone while wife coached him on the side. It was the first time he actually "talked" to me on the phone with more than coincidental mumbling. It made my day. :)