Hold them close... and watch them.

This summer Quinn's swimming has really improved.  He can go down the slide without a life-jacket and swim to the side with no problems.  He's been trying to teach himself to dive and has just been loving splashing around and swimming in the pool.

Chris and I have been pushing him to go off the diving board without a life-jacket on.  (at our pool you're not allowed to go off the board with a life-jacket on - you have to be able to jump, and swim to the side un-assisted.).  He was jumping of the board at Karen's pool and swimming to the side with no problems, so we thought he was ready for the big pool.

Yesterday at swimming lessons he screwed up his courage and went of the board.  It was pretty funny actually because I had just put my camera up to take the picture when he literally ran and jumped off the board!  He swam to the side and got out without a problem.

We went back to the pool last night and he decided (after jumping off the side and the starting blocks numerous times) that he wanted to go off the board.  So off he went, and jumped off and swam to the side.  The swim to the side was a bit of a struggle but he did it.  He was so proud of himself that he wanted to do it again - except this time he wanted to do a 'spin-a-roo'. (basically jump off the board and spin around in the air).

He ran, jumped, and spun around.  When he came up he was sputtering - whether it was because he swallowed some water or was disoriented because of the spin I'm not sure.  He started flailing around and then he made this 'whimper' sound.  That was it - I tore off my glasses and dove in (fully clothed b/c I hadn't planned on going in) and pulled him out.  It happened so fast the lifeguards didn't even have a chance to react.

When I got him out of the pool he was fine, a bit rattled but fine.  Who knows if he could have recovered on his own and swam to the side if I had given him more time.  I wasn't about to take the chance.  The lifeguards were beside themselves that I went in after him - I think that the whole scenario really freaked them out, especially the fact that they really didn't react until after I went in.

Quinn and I snuggled for a bit afterwards, and then he decided he wanted to go down the slide.  I was happy to hear this, because I didn't want the 'incident' to scare him from the pool altogether. 

That being said, I really didn't sleep much last night and am still a bit shaken by the whole thing this morning.  It just goes to show you how quickly things can happen, and it reminded me just how carefully we have to watch our precious little ones. In the blink of an eye things can go from good, to horribly wrong so hug all your babies (big and small) and watch them, watch them, WATCH THEM!!!