This summer activity was kind of doomed from the start.  I mean, Stevie took a nap in the car on the way, so I had high hopes.  My only wish at that point was a no-poop-in-the-pool day!  But it didn’t quite work out. Well, there was no poop (thanks God), but the rest of the afternoon went south pretty quick…

He started off in a great mood.  Didn’t complain of the 105 degree heat.  Didn’t complain when we schlepped all our stuff to the entrance and they sent us back to the car because we had snacks in our bag. Didn’t complain when he had to change into his “baby yute” (bathing suit).  Didn’t complain when as soon as we stepped out of the locker room, they closed the pool for 30 minutes.  Didn’t complain while we waited in line for half an hour to get a hot dog.  Didn’t complain about anything, just going with the flow. Again, this is something that’s been really hard for him and he’s been making such strides!

Then it happened.

The pool opened.

He got so excited, that he didn’t want to eat, and he just wanted to go swimming.  So I said “OK, let’s go!” And in that split second moment, I guess he forgot he was standing on a platform, ran as fast as he could toward the pool, and fell right off the 2 foot drop onto the burning cement.  He hit his head, bruised his eye and cheekbone,  and just cried and cried and cried.  I’m not usually one to rush to his side when he falls because, to be honest, he does it a LOT.  But this… oooh, I knew this one hurt.  So I swept him up and let him sob in my arms for a second.  I kept asking if he was OK and he said “yeah”, so I carried him to the pool, but he couldn’t seem to recover.

He screamed whenever someone splashed him, he didn’t want to play, didn’t want to be put down, just continued crying.  So we took a little break to eat that hot dog and then very slowly warmed up to the idea of going back in the pool.  We started with the fountains for babies and worked our way up.

He slowly got comfortable in the shallow end and even wanted to try going down the water slide, so I thought, OK, NOW we’re going to have some fun!  I told him I’d go with him, but he anxiously slid down on his own before I could get us situated, and to his utter surprise landed under water, which really freaked him out.  I rushed down to get him and ended up knocking him back down in the water, which really, really freaked him out even more.  So you guessed it – tears and crying.  So many tears.

We found a little bit quieter spot where he could practice his jumping, and after about ten minutes he told me he just wanted to go home.  I really couldn’t blame the kid.  It was just way too overwhelming.

So home we went.  With a vow to never return. But I can’t help but wonder if he’d enjoy it more without that little accident right from the start?  Oh well, I’m not doing that again.  At least not this summer.