Terrifying experience on Saturday -- Final End

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 23:55:09 04/22/03 Tue
Author: Drummond
Subject: Terrifying experience on Saturday

We were in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. There's a lake where people play with their toy speed boats, and there are lots of turtles - right near the buffalo herd. The lake was built in the strangest way. The water comes up to a cement wall, just level with the walking path. I don't know how deep it is, but I couldn't reach the bottom with my arm. I tested it before the incident.

Asher was playing on the grass, but he is very curious when it comes to water. Everytime he approached the water, I was right by him. He wanted to touch it, and throw pine cones into it. I figured it was all right if I was right there, and after about 15 minutes, I think I got complacent. I had been holding him and I would sit right next to him. He was in a sitting position, and I stood up for a second and my wife spoke to me. I turned my head for just a split second - literally, when my heart sank as I heard the splash. By the time I got my hand down to him he was about 6 inches under the water. I grabbed him by the shirt at the back of his neck and pulled him out.

He was fine. A little traumatized, and crying, but he didn't even cough up water. I guess his breath was timed just right. He has had swimming lessons where he was dunked with prompting, so maybe he had learned to hold his breath, though at 18 months old this seems doubtful. Anyway, it didn't sink in for me until a couple of minutes later, and I still can't shake very disturbing images out of my head.

Asher cried for a minute. We changed him right there, and by the time he was dressed, he was happy again. Then the damn kid started walking back to the water!!! I picked him up, and we went to look at the Buffalo, and he made his "moo" sounds while pointing at them and he seemed to have forgotten the event.

However, we were at a solar energy display Sunday morning in Hopland, where there's a solar powered fountain with water shooting up at various spots on the pavement. He was curious about the water, as it ran into the pool, but he seemed a little more careful, even though it wasn't deep enough to drown him.

Brrrrrr. This one's going to bother me for a long time.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

it tough work parenting... -- shauna, 16:12:49 04/23/03 Wed
- The sooner they learn to swim the better. -- PAUL., 19:13:20 04/23/03 Wed