Book Entry 179: 1986 Justin Drinks the Swimming Pool

Justin was an avid swimmer.  He loved the water.  He loved pretending to be a shark.  He would hold his hands up at the top of the water as if praying to make shark fins.  

Justin would kick his way across the pool chanting the familiar “daa da – daa da” from the movie Jaws. He would begin his swim time running and jumping and screaming like the other kids.  After an hour or so he would be waddling and walking and screaming while he played.

It took me a while to figure out why Justin had such a drastic change in his behavior when he was in the pool.  One afternoon I decided to make a special effort to study Justin while he swam.  Charlie, who was then four years old, and I played in the shallow end of the pool by the steps.

I noticed during the three hours we were in the pool the other kids kept getting drinks from the water faucet.  Justin didn’t.  I noticed the others kept up their wild pace throughout the afternoon.  Justin kept playing but he became much less animated.  The other kids each went in the house one time to use the bathroom.  As the afternoon went by Justin went inside three or four times.  

When it was time to fix dinner I called everyone out of the pool.  Adam said Justin probably wouldn’t want to eat because his tummy was so full of cookies.  We suspected he’d been snitching from the cookie jar on his visits inside during the afternoon.  The kids all dried off and slipped shorts on over their swim suits for dinner.   
While I prepared dinner in the kitchen I noticed Justin going into the restroom several times.  I followed him and stood by the door waiting for him to come out.  I asked if everything was okay or was he having a “bathroom problem.”  He assured me he was fine, a little embarrassed I’d ask, then added he always used the bathroom a lot after swimming.

When dinner was finished and chores were done we all went back to the pool.  Justin was back to himself running and jumping.  

About an hour later when Justin climbed out of the pool I noticed again how inflated his tummy looked.  I watched as he jumped in the deep end of the pool.  When he came to the top he didn’t sputter and spit like all the other kids, he swallowed the water in his mouth.  I watched him jump in time and time again and never once spit water from his mouth.  I walked to the edge of the pool and sat down to watch Justin swim.  All the while he was under water his mouth was open!  When he came up he seemed happy to be getting my attention.

I said, “Justin, don’t you close your mouth when you are under water?”  He looked me right in the eye and answered, “No Mommy, I just swallow.”  Well that explained the swollen looking tummy.  It also explained the many trips to the restroom. It was not only making him pee a lot it was also washing out his bowels.  No wonder he waddled like a duck when he was finished swimming.  No wonder he stayed so close to the restroom after swimming.  The kids dubbed his swimming walk the “Duck Walk!”  Yep, our little Justin had the cleanest innards of anyone in the USA that summer!