Splash

We love the Town Center here in Jacksonville. We eat there often and my kids adore both the train table at Barnes & Noble as well as the duck pond in front of Magganio's.

Well, it happened...every parent's fear while visiting the duck pond...our kid fell in. It was 57 degrees outside – which is very brisk for a Florida day. The water was extremely chilly. Maddox was leaning over to feed bread to the fish when he tumbled into the water. He submerged face down in the pond. Praise the Lord we had invested time and money into ISR classes (see www.infantswim.com for more information). Keep in mind he was fully clothed in winter clothes along with socks and tennis shoes. He was face down in the water about 3 seconds when he rolled himself onto his back to float, breath, cry, and find the side to pull himself out. I did have to assist him in getting out, because he could have never reached the top of the "dock" around the pond. I bet he was only in the water for 30 seconds, but I kept thinking, “This is okay. He knows how to swim.” Thank you, ISR!

Once we got him out, we stripped him out of his wet clothes and began to dry him off with anything we could find in our diaper bag. A dear stranger, who was there feeding her baby, offered us a blanket she had to help dry him off. We put a dry pull up on him, I wrapped him in my jacket, and we headed to the closest clothing store which was the Gap. We warmed him up quickly with new clothes. Here he is with his wet hair and new clothing. He does have a cut on his hand (I'm assuming from the rocks in the pond). In this photo, he is working on opening a BandAid to put on his cut.

We brought him home and bathed him. I found algae in his ear...ugh! He seems to be fine but I am praying for no bacteria side effects from the fall. I think next time we will stick with the train table at Barnes & Noble.