go ahead, call cps

up until this week, have you ever heard of dry drowning?
here's a synopsis:

According to the Centers for Disease Control, some 3,600 people drowned in 2005, the most recent year for which there are statistics. Some 10 to 15 percent of those deaths was classified as “dry drowning,” which can occur up to 24 hours after a small amount of water gets into the lungs. In children, that can happen during a bath.
Today
Pediatrician Dr. Daniel Rauch
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Dr. Daniel Rauch, a pediatrician from New York University Langone Medical Center, told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira that there are warning signs that every parent should be aware of.
The three important signs, he said, are difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness and changes in behavior. All are the result of reduced oxygen flow to the brain.

Delayed reaction
Rauch said that the phenomenon of dry drowning is not completely understood. But medical researchers say that in some people, a small amount of inhaled water can have a delayed-reaction effect.
“It can take a while for the process to occur and to set in and cause difficulties,” Rauch said. “Because it is a lung process, difficulty breathing is the first sign that you would be worried about.”

The second sign is extreme fatigue, which isn’t always easy to spot. “It’s very difficult to tell when your child is abnormally tired versus normal tired after a hot day and running around in the pool,” Rauch said. “The job of the lungs is to get oxygen into the blood and your brain needs oxygen to keep working, so when your brain isn’t getting oxygen, it can start doing funny things. One of them is becoming excessively tired, losing consciousness and the inability to be aroused appropriately.”

Finally, there are changes in behavior, Rauch said — another tough call when dealing with very small children, whose moods and behavior can change from one minute to the next.
“Another response of the brain to not getting oxygen is to do different things,” Rauch explained, saying parents should be concerned “if your child’s abnormally cranky, abnormally combative — any dramatic change from their normal pattern.”
He admitted, “It is very difficult to pick this up sometimes.” But spotting the warning signs and getting a suspected victim to an emergency room can save a life, he added.

Victims of dry drowning are treated by having a breathing tube inserted so that oxygen can be supplied under pressure to the lungs. “Then we just wait for the lung to heal itself,” he said.

yeah, me either. and, since i don't worry enough about regular drowning, it was great to get this article twice before summer starts. ahhh, modern technology and the world wide web!

so, in honor of dr. daniel rauch, we start our summer off with a bang, at the pool.
sorry there are no pictures to post, but i was busy keeping an eye on all types of drowning. . . .you know, in case a third type popped up.

so, we're having a good time, and yes my child is the one out there with a life jacket. . . don't judge. when i say i fear drowning, i fear drowning!
we take the appropriate amount of breaks for water and shade time.
sunscreen? oh yeah, here's where you can begin dialing:

here's the thing. see, while i was constantly on the watch to make sure no child ended up at the bottom of the pool, or no water was ingested, i overlooked one tiny detail. . . sunscreen application!
i mean really, how many things am i suppose to be doing at once!?!?!? i'm really starting to give brittany the benefit of the doubt.
see, i bought this new stuff: spray on sunscreen.

hmmmmm. sounds nice. you just spray it on, ala ross gellar and his spray on tan, easy enough.
apparently there are some tricks to using this stuff and apparently i am not privy to them.
my boy, who is browner than brown, no problem. just got browner, which yes i realize could still lead to some cancer, but i'm working on it. my girl on the other hand, who inherited more from her daddy than his stubborness and blonde curls apparently inherited his need for a higher spf. oops.

here's where it gets good. in us grown folk, you get sunburned, you get a little red, you get a little pain, you peel, bam! you tan.
well, apparently not when you're two.
it ain't that simple marge.

something about not real good temperature regulation, leads to 3 days of temperatures ranging from 102-105 degrees. and the fun part is when you combine that with a little diarrhea and vomiting, you have to watch for dehydration.
i know right?
so, for all you rookies out there, learn from my mistakes.
there ain't nothing wrong with spending your entire summer indoors watching tv and playing video games.