Dunk

I had reservations about submerging Lyla's head in the swimming pool. Sure, our parents gave us a quick puff on the face and shoved us under with no problem. And sure, as kids we all got dunked by bigger kids who had premature armpit hair. And even though some of them were girls, we turned out fine.

Didn't we?

Is it necessary for parents to submerge their babies? Is the thought that they can handle it because they bobbed around in amniotic fluid for the first ten months of their existence? Or is it because there aren't many things you can do with an infant in a pool? You put her on her stomach, you flip her on her back, you get her to flap her limbs and blow bubbles--and then out of sheer boredom do you say, "Oh, what the hell," and dunk her like an Oreo in milk?

I thought I held firm beliefs about avoiding submersion, but it turns out that when faced with perceived peer pressure, those beliefs didn't hold water. Namely, I wasn't about to be the only parent in class with an undunked kid. So Lyla got dunked today, and she coughed a little but it was mostly her dramatic cough, not her cough cough.

In my defense, it wasn't a dunk as much as a face swoosh. It lasted maybe 3/10 of a second. I am weak, I realize, but I'm the only man in the class. Someday I'll thank Lyla for taking it in the face so I wouldn't lose face.