Bragging Rights

Granddaddy Bob likes to tell the story of how at three years old he already had a paying job. Well, his namesake, Maverick Robert, has already beaten him at 4 months old! Technically all of the boys have gotten paid for research studies at infants. We've done several of them at Duke University and have gotten $5-10 each time. This hardly buys lunch for us, so I've never really counted it as much.

Today, Maverick was a life-jacket tester and earned $50!

Now we are talking. He did such a great job, that they will hopefully be calling us again in a few weeks to do some more. Maverick really enjoyed being in the pool (as did I) since it was a toasty 92 degrees. This is not a picture from the facility as I couldn't manage all three boys and the camera too. I just wanted to document this with a cute photo.

Even though I've been around water and life jackets my whole life, I'll have to admit I failed miserably when it came time for the first test. I was in the pool, waist deep and Maverick was lying on the pool deck near me. I was instructed to pretend this was an emergency situation, and to get the life jacket on Maverick as quickly but as safely as I could. The life jacket was laid next to Maverick and I was told "Go". So I started by laying Maverick on top of it and then bringing the bottom part of it around his waist and securing the straps. All the time while Brighton (who had been told to be QUIET) was saying, "Mommy.....mommy.....mommy....?" and some other things I'm sure that I was trying to tune out and concentrate on what I should be doing.

Anyways, I said, "stop" and then immediately knew I had the life jacket on wrong! I was so embarrassed! This is the coast guard approved infant kind that is orange and looks like a simple upside-down U. I had fastened the strap that normally goes under the chin across his chest. If you can imagine his whole upper body (arms and head) was through the hole where only his head should be. To my own defense, I've never put this style on an infant that is lying down. Surely if they were standing up I would have fastened it correctly?!? Also, I did have a two year old talking to me and annoying me non-stop while I did it. I really don't think they wanted this to be as high stress as it was.

Luckily, I was given a do-over. We did fine after that and Maverick earned his first real money.