Pay Attention!

So I'm feeling a little down on myself. In less than a week two of my kids almost drowned and I was not paying attention to them. I was at the pool but not watching close enough to keep it from happening.

The first one was Ben. He has learned to swim while we've been here (go see post in Oct) and so I don't worry about him too much. He was in the water with the other kids and two of our friends. I was with Kemiah and the mother of our friends. The only problem was that I was not able to see the pool and didn't do anything about it. I just sat there talking with my friend. Then I hear Ben crying and he comes over and says he was drowning and was trying to grab on to one of the older girls but she pushed him away. I guess she wasn't sure what he was doing or was saving herself. Marissa came over and told me she tried to grab him but couldn't and then asked me why I didn't come to save him. I felt terrible and was very relieved that he was okay.

The second one happened today. I was getting the kids out and Kemiah was walking around. I was not paying attention to her, but was trying to gather the other kids. Then I heard a splash. I turned, fully expecting Xiomara to be floating in the water but it was Kemiah, not quite floating but still at the surface. It's an awful memory in my mind. Seeing my little baby in the water and not doing well. I was able to pull her out from the edge of the pool but it was a hard 30 seconds (felt like 5 minutes) before she could breath normal again.

Like I always tell the kids, "Pay attention." So many mistakes can be prevented if we will just pay a little more attention to what we are doing. I think I would have learned that after the first near drowning (which was actually Marissa over a month ago but that was with lots of kids around and I still wasn't watching my kids). I sure hope I've learned the lesson now, before someone really gets hurt.