After Elvis' therapy appointment yesterday, I took Beth and her friend to a water park near his therapy office. This was part of her birthday celebration. She'd never been and was really looking forward to it. (I didn't realize she'd never been. This is a hazard for foster families. I knew I'd been. Turns out it was before I got Beth or Alli. It had been longer than I thought, evidently.)
Anyway, it was hot but that just makes water parks more fun, right? The big girls took off to do all the activities. I hit the kiddie pool with Elvis. He was happy as a clam, snug in his life vest, letting me tow him around the little 1-foot deep pool. We did this for what seemed like an eternity. I had a couple of conversations with other parents, also trapped in the mushroom pool by their small ones. I got one lady's complete reproduction history. Thanks for sharing, Ma'am.
Elvis, who has zero body fat, started shivering in the pool, in the 93 degree heat. I got him and out we sat on the edge with my feet still in the pool but his wet body was snuggled up against mine. He fell asleep. Still in his life vest. In the 93 degree heat. With hundreds of kids laughing and slashing all around us. The lady with a history of child-bearing difficulties helped me untangle him from his life vest straps and we got out of the pool.
Within five minutes, the lifeguard started frantically blowing her whistle and yelling for everyone to evacuate the kiddie pool. Turns out, some kid on the other side of the sizable pool had pooped in the pool. It was like Caddyshack for the toddler set - there was a piece of poop just floating around the area.
It was comforting to know they have a system in place for emergencies just like these. Once everyone was out, a park worker took water samples and tested the chemicals. Another lifeguard showed up with a skimmer on a long pole and an empty 5 gallon bucket. He tried to...catch the offending substance in the skimmer net. It must not have worked as he left and came back with a brush on a long handle. He worked for a while and must have corralled the poop but was unable to move it from the pool to the bucket. Pictured here is how he finally managed to get the poop into the bucket - he put on his blue gloves and just picked it up. He looked to be about 20 and I'm sure this was the grossest thing he'd ever done. The look on his face was priceless. I have no doubt he spent the whole time wishing he'd taken that job on a dairy farm rather than to have to use his gloved hand to fish poo out of the baby pool with hundreds of folks watching...and laughing, bless his heart.
After the...removal, more chemicals were added and the water was tested and retested until all was deemed safe to re-enter the kiddie toilet, I mean pool. Many people chose to go back in. I, did NOT.
3 comments:
roflmao! I love your descriptions.
My son works as a lifeguard... he says he would NEVER bring his own children to a kiddie pool. he's seen enough in a year to scare him "sh@$tle**" is what he says... (sorry for the poor taste in words, their his, not mine - but they fit.)
I think he said it well!
Sadly, Elvis is probably going to be stuck in the kiddie pool for years. He loves it, though!
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