Ever shut down a pool because one of your kids vomited in the water because you kept throwing them up in the air? Well, I have….
About 4 years ago when Luke was 3, he and I single handedly shut down a pool. Yep—cleared everyone out. He pretty much threw up all over me, people scattered—it was a mess. No more swimming for the other hotel guests that night or the next day.
Flash forward to 7/28/10. Jacob just turned 5. He's learning how to swim, but we put a life jacket on him so he doesn't have any close calls. He and I are having fun in the pool. We're kind of wrestling, messing around…Michele had gone to get the pizzas so it was just me and the boys in the pool with a bunch of other kids.
So, I ask Jacob, "You want me to throw you REALLY high?" He said, "Sure!" So with one heave from a crouched position I launch him into the air probably a good 7-8 feet above the water…S P L A S H !
He comes up gasping for air so I grab him and sit him at the edge of the pool. I asked him if he was ok and he said yes….so I told him to rest here for a few minutes and then he can play some more. I go back to playing with the other boys. I look back at Jacob 30 seconds later and see this string of what looked like snot dripping from his mouth. I thought he was just spitting up some water so I go over to check on him. I noticed a few chunks on the ground but didn't think anything of it until he got this horrible look on his face and yep…..there it was, the chicken quesadilla from lunch….! Well, none of it actually hit the pool, it all landed on the cement around the sitting area. I quickly raked it together in a big pile and yelled at Andy to go get the 16-year old life guard, who, once realized what had happened, had this sheepish look on his face like "I was hoping this would never happen to me when I was on duty". I asked him if he had anything to clean up the vomit and he gave me 2 towels…I proceeded to scoop it up into the towels and carry Jacob over to a chair to dry off and relax. The life guard then grabs the garden hose and proceeds to hose down the remaining chunks into the drain in the center of the cement. That's it—no one else saw, no one was the wiser, and everyone continued to swim…with the exception of us…we went out to the lobby and ate some pizza.