12.23.2009

We narrowly avoided catastrophe today.


I left the boys home with my sister in law while I went to work. When I got home, just before noon, the house was insanely quiet considering the 4 rambunctious boys that I left here. Within minutes, the doorbell rang. I opened it to find our visibly shaken next door neighbor standing there with my 2 nephews and Cohen, all soaking wet. They had been playing in her backyard with her grandson. She didn't realize her grandson could open the latch to the pool gate, but he had and the other three boys had followed him in. They all got in the hot tub, fully clothed. The other boys stayed on the step, and were only wet waist high. Cohen somehow ended up in the deeper middle part and couldn't get back to the edge. He was screaming and flailing, according to the kids. The boys were able to pull him back to the step just as the neighbor heard the screams and got out there. She brought them home to use apologizing that she had "really let them have it" for opening the gate and getting in. She felt badly that she'd yelled at them! I would have spanked every wet little bottom all the way home!) More than anything, she was obviously aware how dramatically different the outcome could have been. Can you imagine? 2 days before Christmas?!
Cohen keeps saying he's so sorry but there's no way he comprehends the magnitude of what could have happened. I think he's just sorry that he was grounded from playing and eating treats all day! (I have no idea what the appropriate consequence is so I just made that one up!)
So... here's your public service announcement: WATCH YOUR KIDS AROUND WATER! You can never be too cautious. Dont trust that your child cant reach the latch. Add a padlock or another secondary barrier to keep kids out of your pool.
And hug your babies. They are precious little gifts on loan for undetermined lengths of time.

15 comments:

Courtney said...

Oh my scary!! I am glad everyone is ok!

Melanie M. McKinnon said...

i'm so glad cohen is ok! thank you for the great reminder.

Heidi said...

yeah, my in laws put a lock on their pool fence so that you could only open it from the inside...you just have to reach your hand through the bars and open the gate..one hand...easy. Maes could climb on the gate and reach her hand through if she thought enough about it. We suggested putting a bike lock around the gate so that it could not possibly open without the key- they were cool with it (they were going to watch my kids while I worked- and I'm super worried about stuff like that!). I'm so glad that he is ok.

Raysha said...

So glad that they're all okay. Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

KatieJ said...

wow that is so scary!! I'm glad they are all ok!

Shanna said...

Im glad everything is ok, that is so scary

SouthernAZ WOLFINGTON said...

I hate this story. It's been haunting me all week. I'm so glad they're all ok and I try not to think what could have been.

I had fun hanging out over Christmas. Have fun in Thatcher. Tell everyone hi. Love ya. Liz.

Amanda said...

that little boy has some guardian angels...

Stacy, Trae, Parker, and Ella said...

Oh my goodness! Way too scary. So glad everyone is okay.

Stacy, Trae, Parker, and Ella said...

Oh my goodness! Way to scary. So glad everyone is okay.

Stacy, Trae, Parker, and Ella said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mimi said...

Wow, crazy how easy it is to loose track. So glad it all turned out ok!

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