My Worst Nightmare Brought To Life

Today something so terrifying that I haven't fully processed it yet happened. It didn't happen to a friend of a friend in some far away place. It was my son, my heart, my world and it was in my own backyard.

It was like any other day. We arrived at home and CBear wanted to play outside. We put our things in the house and went to the back yard. He decided he wanted to ride in the snow sled after having dragged it around so I took the rope and pulled him around the yard. I made it around once before I was silently cursing my husband for having left it out and made my way to the garden chairs to sit and catch my breath.

At this point CBear began wandering looking for things of interest. I will be honest, I don't watch him like a hawk when he does this. I usually have my phone with me & I use this time to check Twitter etc. He's a boy he doesn't want to play with his toys he wants to investigate and check out all the stuff he's not allowed to have. I really try not to micro-manage this time of discovery for him; it's important he be able to do it in his own way. I still check him constantly, don't get me wrong, he's a BOY he will destroy things in 2 seconds flat and eat a ton of dirt or rocks if I let him!

So there I sat, phone in hand, waiting for a telltale sound, or lack thereof to indicate I should pay attention. I glanced up to see him bent down. He appeared to be looking at something really close to the ground. Initially this didn't concern me. Then my brain started working...

CBear's head was down, his bum was up, his arms were at his sides not on the ground where they should be. As the fog lifted I realized he was near a tarp my husband had left out, on our sled ride I'd noticed some water pooled on the other side, maybe there was some on this side as well.

Even in that moment that I realized what he was doing, it only occurred to me that he was probably trying to drink it. He does this with the bath water all the time so I still wasn't worried as I got up and made my way to him. It wasn't far. I didn't rush. I was merely going to scold him for drinking nasty dirty water!

As I got closer, CBear got his footing and was able to stand up. I reached him at that same moment. I'll never forget the wet bubbly sound of that first gasping breath he took. It was then that I realized what had happened.

My son, with his not yet 2yr old toddler legs had bent over to check out the dirt in the pool of water. His young body is still not balanced in weight to his head and he was pulled forward. I imagine the cold water hitting his face probably caused him to gasp in shock. That could have been it right there. Many children wouldn't have been able to find their footing, or stabilize themselves to get back out of the water. CBear did. And if he hadn't I was there. I would've pulled him from the water and saved him. I can't let myself think of what might've been had I not looked up at just that moment.

This all happened in seconds. It felt like minutes, hours even. In reality I'd be surprised if somebody told me it had even been a whole minute.

He cried, more out of fear than anything, I held him and tired to stay calm. No sense in scaring him further. I kissed him, told him it was ok, dried the water dripping from his face. You'd never know, seeing us then, that anything so terrifyingly close to his drowning had happened.

So lesson learned. I hope you learn it from me and don't have to experience this yourself. Your child can drown in mere inches of water. If you have a pond, a pool, a river or creek near your home PLEASE take safety precautions to keep your little ones alive!