Daddy's Little Helper

It was a beautiful Saturday morning, so we decided to take the cover off the pool and put in Duncan's new pool stairs. We bought a set of stairs for the pool, since we figured it's only a matter of time until Duncan falls in, and it would be a good idea for him to have a way to climb out just in case we weren't standing by. Keep that thought in mind...

Chris and Duncan skimmed the leaves off the cover. They were wonderfully smelly after fermenting under the snow all winter, and Duncan had a great time playing in them. He got all muddy and slimy, and we were beginning to think about a bath to follow.

Then he started to get adventurous:

Daddy wants leaves? There's a leaf...

Bet I can reach it all by myself.

Fortunately, the cover supported his weight, and he pulled himself back onto the deck. Several times. Because "no" doesn't necessarily mean "no" if you pretend you've gone deaf, right?

A few laps around the pool to burn off some of the excitement, and then we started pulling the cover off. Duncan was very interested in what was underneath, and seemed to understand that he shouldn't step on the water like he did on the cover.

Chris brought out the shopvac to get the last of the water off the cover before we lifted it off the pool. Duncan doesn't like vacuums, and felt he needed to tell it so – and us, and the rest of the neighbourhood – at the top of his lungs.

Luckily I set the camera down just then, because a minute later Duncan took a big leap backward from the Evil Shopvac...

... and fell into the pool.

The pool that is 41ºF according to the thermometer. Or 5ºC. Single digits above solid ice. That pool.

The steps we bought for exactly this situation are still sitting at the side of the house, waiting to be installed. What's a mommy to do? I had to jump in too and fish him out. To his credit, he was dog-paddling diligently and keeping his head above water by the time I got to him, and didn't seem particularly upset by his predicament.

After a brisk towelling-down for both of us, and a rawhide chewy and a large Tim Horton's respectively, we have recovered. Duncan is back to prowling around the pool peering in. He'll be getting swimming and pool-exiting lessons as soon as it warms up a bit more. Quite a bit more.

And he's a lot cleaner than he was, so we're going to skip the bath.