The Pool - and the Stress It Creates

Oh my gosh. I can't even begin to describe the sort of chaos that takes place when Kelton plays in the blow-up pool we have. No really - I can't find the words to give you an accurate description on how much I want to yank out my hair, his hair, every blade of grass in the yard....well...you get the picture, I'm sure. I just don't know what tips him from a semi-reasonable child to an out of control wild child when it comes to water.

Any water really. Yesterday it was the smallest of our blow up pools. We have a bigger sized one that we haul out on family days but since it's deeper it takes longer to warm up and heaven forbid my children play in right from the hose cold water like I did when I was a child. But then, I guess they don't have to walk uphill both ways to school in the snow without shoes either. Spoiled children. :)
But I digress - as I often do when reliving painful experiences. As I said, it was the small pool.

So I had the pool set up, complete with the attached whale slide, and Kaylen had been happily playing in it on and off all day. Then, later in the afternoon, the phone rang. It was the neighbor boy who wanted to come over to play until it was time to go to karate. Sure - sounds like a fine idea.

Prior to his call, Kaylen had talked me into taking a quick bike ride down to the corner. It's 5 houses away. I thought "Oh it's ok. The boys will find something to do for the three minutes we're out of the house." They are usually really good about finding something. Seriously. It was no more than 3-5 minutes and I'm betting heavily on the 3 side. Kaylen rides extremely fast and I have to run to stay up. We went 5 houses...so 5 down and 5 back at a high speed. Anyway -
I get to the open garage door to find that Kelton had left the door from the house to the garage wide open and I now had a fugitive cat in the front yard. I scooped her up and put her back inside. Then I heard it....the splash of water.

OH NO HE DIDN'T!

Oh yes he did.

In the few minutes I was away the boys decided to go into the back yard (where Kelton had flat out refused to be all day long) and get into the pool! I cannot begin to tell you the number of times we have told them they are absolutely forbidden to even BE in the backyard without an adult when the pool has water in it. This is not a new rule. It's been drilled into their heads since they were old enough to crawl and they both know it inside out and upside down. There is NO fudging of this rule because a drowning child is the vision I most see in my nightmares and until that moment, our rule had been obeyed.

I flipped out. This is non-negotiable from my end. I removed him from the pool, sat him and down and I made him tell me the rules for the pool. He knew them, of course, and then followed up with "I'm sorry. I forgot." FORGOT? ARGH!

After a time out, I let him return to the pool (which I wouldn't have done if the neighbor boy wasn't over but I don't feel punishing another child for my child's short coming is the way to go). But then - oh boy. More chaos. He splashed Kaylen (who hates it and he knows it), he used the pool and slide like a trampoline, he was just out and out obnoxious....which sadly, is nothing new when he is around water.

And it's been like that since the beginning. I don't know what it is but water, any water, just brings out this wild side of him. It's crazy.

I sat on the patio to supervise and I am not kidding when I tell you I would have rather been reading up on medical treatment or tax law (that's for you honey). It was insane. And the kicker was - from the time the neighbor boy arrived to the time he walked out the door was 25 minutes!

And I wonder why I am so darn tired at the end of the day.