Abby and her Da.
Concentrating :D
There she goes!
Hanging with Auntie L on her first boat ride pm Uncle Hughie and Aunt Elizabeth's boat.
Sleepy girl :)
So small and totally out!
Abby's Meema and Da put in a pool this past winter and Abby has essentially been in heaven. She was a little timid at first but once she figured out she wouldn't sink in her life jacket she became fairly confident and started swimming the length of the pool on her own. I on the other hand have been pretty nervous. Meema and Da don't have a pool alarm yet. It has been ordered I'm told. I have been afraid to leave Abby there without me then decided she would just have to wear a life jacket all of the time when ever I wasn't there. Okay a little extreme so have settled for when she is out by the pool or on the dock WITH EMPHASIS that she must never go out there without a grown up. We chant the rules every day. Often per her request. She will start, " Now Mommy tell me the rules for Meema's." Then starts with, "What do we always have to do?" Then waits for me to say Never go outside without a grown up and always wear your life jacket Then she adds and a bathing suit. Plus we have also added no running. She seemed to have a healthy respect for the pool and knew her limits. Meema arranged for a swiming instructor to come over and give the Grand kids swimming lessons too. Last Saturday was the first one. Abby and I were outside talking with my step sister. The instructor was due any minute. I took of her dress while talking to my stepsister. Did not put the life jacket on her per the lesson due to start any minute. I was 2 feet from the steps and while talking I look down and see that Abby had very quietly and quickly decided to go down the 4 steps on her own! She was facing us ant the water level was just over her eyes! She was bobbing a little and than sunk right in front of me.! Holy S#$T. I jumped in fully clothed and got her. She was quiet while I pounded on her back. She didn't seem to have swallowed much if any water but boy did she finally let out a scream. It's true it just takes a minute and though my step sister swears it was less than 30 seconds for the whole event to transpire it seemed like forever to me. She is fine but the episode while giving her a healthy dose of much needed fear and respect for the pool also kind of hurt the first swimming lesson. I had to go in with her and she cried and didn't participate much. After the lesson was over though she settled down and again became fairly comfortable in the pool as long as she had on her life jacket. Meema scheduled 3 extra lessons this week in addition to this Saturdays lesson. Monday and Tuesdays lessons were still rough although she did better on Tuesday. Time will tell. Also what I feared the most happened on my watch! Not my most proud parenting moment. Lesson learned too. I will never take my eyes off of her again. And now some swimming pictures ending with her first boat ride. Actually her second boat ride but she doesn't remember her first since it was so long ago so I'm calling it her first. She was pretty nervous but settled down and took a little nap.
4 comments:
That must have been terrifying! I'm so glad she was ok and hope you are both getting over the fright.
Sooo scary. I had to race through the post to make sure everything turned out ok and then re-read for details. Glad she is growing more comfortable in the water now.
Glad to hear she's okay! I've been a lifeguard for many years but I'll always remember my first rescue of a little girl at a beach near my house right after I got certified (I wasn't even on duty!). She was just standing in the water up to her waist near some family member and kept hopping up and down. In about 15 seconds she managed to hop out the couple feet and went right under. Luckily I'd been a bit paranoid about her and I scooped her up immediately before her family member could even see her. Totally shook me up, but was bothered even more that her family member didn't even realize how close the girl had come to drowning. UGH!! I still get the shivers and it's been more than 10 years!
Anyway, I'm really glad to hear that your parents are getting an alarm & hired a swim teacher. Is there a door that leads from the house to the backyard/pool area? If so, I really suggest putting up a fence with a lock that blocks the pool from the house. Unfortunately, that is how many children get into the pool area & drown before parents even know they've gotten out of the house. =(
That is very, very scary!
I have a similar story. Briana at her first swim lesson decided to walk down the pool steps into the water without her inner tube. She did it right next to her swim coach while his back was turned for 5 seconds. She sunk under immediately. I yelled her name and the coach turned and grabbed her. I was fully clothed but was about to jump in myself. Briana whimpered a little but was fine. She learned a big lesson that day. She won't be doing that again!
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