Near Drowning

Well not really, but here's the story. We had gone camping for the week with friends and every one was at the pool. In line waiting with 60 other people to get in, I started to slather the sun block on Gabe's fair skin. He whined and didn't want it. I told him, "a few minutes of discomfort will save you days of pain."
Once we were in the pool Gabe was ready to leave. He was done after 10 minutes. "We are staying for quite a while," I told him. Angel and I both want to swim. Do you want to play the dunking game that we played before? You can dunk me first." Gabe didn't want to play.
Baby Maree enjoyed 'walking' in the pool for a short time. Then she got fussy. It was her nap time. I got her dressed and spent a few minutes walking with the stroller. Soon she was asleep. A friend who was reading a book allowed me to park the stroller next to her. Angel and I also took turns keeping watch over Maree.
Gabe hung out in the 1 foot section of the pool for quite a while. I did not push him to swim or work on building swimming skills. He really doesn't swim and doesn't like going under. After a while he decided to try the slide in the kiddie section. You land sitting in water that just covers your legs. After 1 time with Angel and I watching and guiding (at his request) he then did the slide several more times on his own.
A while later I became aware that Angel had somehow talked him into doing the BIG water slides. The first one had a tube that you sit on to ride down. Gabe's light weight made him glide down and float about half way across the landing pool. However, when he got off of the tube he slipped and went under for a second. He popped up fast. "Oh I'm going to drown!" he said.
"You're not drowning," Angel said. "Your feet are on the bottom and your head is up." The water was chest deep.
A short while later Angel talked Gabe into trying the other slide. I was surprised that he even tried. This slide was steeper at the end. There was no tube. Everyone who went down it plunged into the water. I stood on the other side of the rope that surrounded the slide landing pool. I wanted to get to Gabe quickly, but could not wait right at the bottom. As Gabe shot down the last part of the slide, I dove under the rope to get to him. He came up sputtering and coughing a bit. "Help me I'm drowning!" he called out. His feet were already on the bottom and his head up. He had come in just a few seconds. As I touched him, he was not sure whether he wanted to grab me or continue to wipe the water out of his face. "I drownded," he said.
"You didn't drown, you just went under the water for a few seconds. People do that all of the time. You did a good job," I told him.
"I did?" he asked. "I drownded and I did a good job."
"You did not drown and that's what makes it a good job." I said.
"I drownded and that's a good job!" Gabe said.
"You did NOT drown - good job!" I said.
"Good job," Gabe said.