Wading pools

I love wading pools. They are actually the best part of this little town. I'm not sure why they call them wading pools though. We swim in them. They are only 2 feet deep, but they are huge. Bigger than any backyard pool I've ever seen. My kids float on big inner tubes, even wear goggles and go "snorkeling" in these things. They are great because the big kids can play in the "deep" end (2 feet max) while the moms and babes can play in the shallow (1 ft) and pour and dump water into buckets and cups. I can't believe I haven't taken a single picture at these wading pools this summer because we frequent them. We were just there this afternoon. At the beginning of the summer Landon was your typical toddler dropping toys in from the ledge and staying quite dry for being near a large body of water. Until recently. He's taken it upon himself to become one of the big kids. I even had to buy him a giant innertube to stop the tears shed while trying to pry Kennedy's out of his chubby little hands. He loves to hold on to the edge of his tube, pick his feet up from underneath him, and float. Sometimes he puts his feet on the ground to walk, but he floats a lot. Today we got there right as it opened, and it was just us. There is a real life lifeguard on duty at all times, but I never trust that because it is usually so crowded that she wouldn't be able to see a child drowning. Since we were the only people there, I figured letting Landon play on the opposite side of the deep end was safe. He was just floating around in his tube. Then he went under. Now, he was directly at the feet of the lifeguard and I was about 15 feet away. I jumped up and yelled, "he's going under!" I'm running as fast as I can through 2 feet of water and what is the lifeguard doing? Just sitting there. She calmy says, "No, he's just playing. His head isn't all the way under." Me--"Yes it is" as I grab him and pull him to safety. His head is soaking wet, eyes dripping with water, and he lets out a huge belch due to swallowing extreme amounts of the pool. I've seen this happen to mother's countless times, but it's usually during a crowded playtime so I've given the lifeguard a little bit of credit. Now I know better. I should probably get a leash for the little guy who thinks he's big enough to roam with the older kids. Or, I should get some more entertaining buckets to dump with to coax him into staying little for a few more weeks.