Swimming
Now as a new Mum to her firstborn I had decided early on that we would do 'water familiarisation' type lessons early on and just keep going. I took him at 9mths but he just wasn't ready to keep up with their program...they wanted him to wait and then to come in the pool etc...just not ready so we put it off...then we had another baby and it just put in the too hard basket...and a third - come on how am meant to be in the pool with one and out with two? So good intentions down the drain and it got put off and put off.
Well at xmas last year (yes over 6 months ago) we went to the swimming pool in Adelaide...Brett was asleep so left him home with Daddy and just took Corey and Owen. WELL when we get there Owen decided no way on God's Green Earth was HE getting into that large body of water!....a bit of coaxing and a bit more and we almost had to physically DRAG him out again come time to go home! So for the last 6 months I've been listening to Owen telling me "I want to LIVE at the pool with the green frog" (pool had a green frog slide in the middle of the kiddy pool) and other such gems. Physio looked at him because he apparently can't sit still at kinder/daycare (lets face it he can't sit still ANYWHERE ANYTIME)...she seemed to think he had weak ab muscles (don't we all?) and that swimming/bike ridding would help...so I thought about it for a couple more months....
so anyway I bit the bullet and made the call. What time were you thinking I was asked....lol well kinder 3 mornings a week and daycare all day one day and speech therapy every second week at 10am...when can you fit us in says me lol! I think I could hear her head spinning over the phone but she comes back with 8.30am OMG one more day that I have to be out of bed waaaaaaaaaaay too early in the morning!
Now I explained that Owen has some developmental delays and she says thats cool and I booked both boys in for a four week trial...I then tell both boys that they can go to swimming lessons soon and start explaining the importance of doing what they are told to do! Then I get a call. We think we should put Brett off starting a few weeks so that Owen can get a bit of confidence up with teacher etc. CRAP! Makes sense but how to explain that to a nearly 3 year old! Ok Brett they say you can't start swimming til you are three, you can come and watch for a bit (woohoo he took that well because he is soooo excited about the prospect of a birthday and turning three - even if he thinks that ALL birthdays occur at Aunty Sue's house - more on that another time)!
So after a couple of weeks of imagining all the horror of the long looked forward to (by Owen) and dreaded (by me) swimming lesson we get there on time (but minus camera doh!). Early even. Owen looked at pool and instead of a look of worry I expected to see his eyes were lit up with sheer delight at the prospect and he started shedding clothes (swimmers on underneath). So then he sits himself down on the edge of the pool next to another boy as the teacher got in. Here is me watching to make sure brett doesn't jump in (mind you he actually sat nicely nearly the whole time) and watching Owen thinking he is going to turn into his usual hyperactive silly self any minute now....and it didn't happen...not once....He did as he was told by the teacher for a full half hour...and the best bit of all....he didn't stop SMILING - and I don't mean a little smile...I mean a 'fall off your face if it gets any bigger' type of smile for the whole time. And no sooner had they finished than he tells me he wants to go to the toilet (woohoo making progress there too) and then he spends the next 30-45min telling me how good it was and asking if he can swim again tomorrow!
so there you go - he behaved himself and he grinned the whole time - what a joy it was after all that worry...he can't wait til next week and neither can i - although i'm a bit concerned about how my camera will cope in a warm/wet environment i'm determined to give it a try because I so need to capture the expression on his face!
Well at xmas last year (yes over 6 months ago) we went to the swimming pool in Adelaide...Brett was asleep so left him home with Daddy and just took Corey and Owen. WELL when we get there Owen decided no way on God's Green Earth was HE getting into that large body of water!....a bit of coaxing and a bit more and we almost had to physically DRAG him out again come time to go home! So for the last 6 months I've been listening to Owen telling me "I want to LIVE at the pool with the green frog" (pool had a green frog slide in the middle of the kiddy pool) and other such gems. Physio looked at him because he apparently can't sit still at kinder/daycare (lets face it he can't sit still ANYWHERE ANYTIME)...she seemed to think he had weak ab muscles (don't we all?) and that swimming/bike ridding would help...so I thought about it for a couple more months....
so anyway I bit the bullet and made the call. What time were you thinking I was asked....lol well kinder 3 mornings a week and daycare all day one day and speech therapy every second week at 10am...when can you fit us in says me lol! I think I could hear her head spinning over the phone but she comes back with 8.30am OMG one more day that I have to be out of bed waaaaaaaaaaay too early in the morning!
Now I explained that Owen has some developmental delays and she says thats cool and I booked both boys in for a four week trial...I then tell both boys that they can go to swimming lessons soon and start explaining the importance of doing what they are told to do! Then I get a call. We think we should put Brett off starting a few weeks so that Owen can get a bit of confidence up with teacher etc. CRAP! Makes sense but how to explain that to a nearly 3 year old! Ok Brett they say you can't start swimming til you are three, you can come and watch for a bit (woohoo he took that well because he is soooo excited about the prospect of a birthday and turning three - even if he thinks that ALL birthdays occur at Aunty Sue's house - more on that another time)!
So after a couple of weeks of imagining all the horror of the long looked forward to (by Owen) and dreaded (by me) swimming lesson we get there on time (but minus camera doh!). Early even. Owen looked at pool and instead of a look of worry I expected to see his eyes were lit up with sheer delight at the prospect and he started shedding clothes (swimmers on underneath). So then he sits himself down on the edge of the pool next to another boy as the teacher got in. Here is me watching to make sure brett doesn't jump in (mind you he actually sat nicely nearly the whole time) and watching Owen thinking he is going to turn into his usual hyperactive silly self any minute now....and it didn't happen...not once....He did as he was told by the teacher for a full half hour...and the best bit of all....he didn't stop SMILING - and I don't mean a little smile...I mean a 'fall off your face if it gets any bigger' type of smile for the whole time. And no sooner had they finished than he tells me he wants to go to the toilet (woohoo making progress there too) and then he spends the next 30-45min telling me how good it was and asking if he can swim again tomorrow!
so there you go - he behaved himself and he grinned the whole time - what a joy it was after all that worry...he can't wait til next week and neither can i - although i'm a bit concerned about how my camera will cope in a warm/wet environment i'm determined to give it a try because I so need to capture the expression on his face!
posted by Rainy Nights at 9:21 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home