Swimming Lessons 2012 - Damien (Physical Excellence Friday)

Ideally, our Doman-style swimming lessons would continue year-round.

 But then reality sets in, and there is pretty much nothing that is going to motivate me to go swimming when it is 40 or 50 degrees outside, no matter how "mild" that is in comparison to some of the other winter climates in the country and world.

 So trying to be realistic, our swimming lesson season runs from about April through October, giving us a good 5 to 6 months a year, 3 to 6 days a week.

 On our first day of swimming earlier this week, it was encouraging to note that Damien took to the water like a fish (which I know is totally cliche). In fact, the first day we went swimming, I had planned to just let Hunter swim and we were going to watch. Ha. Nice try, Mom.

 Damien was so enthusiastic about the water that I couldn't keep him out of it. I ended up giving up the battle to keep him poolside, and we waded on the stairs after stripping him down to his diaper. He splashed and kicked with gusto.

 

So, as our swimming season began earlier this week at the first sign of warm weather (it's been in the upper 70's and 80's, finally), I would like to share with you some goals I am hoping to accomplish by the end of the "summer" (October) at which time Damien will be 16 months old.

 These goals might be lofty, or they might be underestimating him - who knows. Whatever doesn't get accomplished this summer, we will pick up next summer (or maybe even during the winter if we could ever find an indoor pool).

• Swim 3-10 feet underwater independently
• Float on back independently
• Jump into water (from sitting or standing) and then swim back up to surface to adult or edge of pool
• Swim to edge and hold on
• Climb out of the pool from stairs
• Dive for objects at bottom of pool (in very shallow water, body height or less)
• Roll over in water from front to back
• Swim and come up for breaths, either by sticking head out of water or flipping on back to breath/rest, as in here
• Water safety (do not enter pool without adult, do not enter after swim time is over, careful jumping, more)

Damien's current skill level? He splashes, kicks, eagerly puts his face in the water, and (sometimes) holds his breath underwater momentarily. He used to do well floating on his back in the bathtub, but currently is not too fond of it. I suppose he is out of practice.

Hunter's goals (age 7) for the summer are a bit more extensive and deserve a post of their own (next week). Wish us luck!  

"And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim..." Isaiah 25:11

Damien is 10 months, 2 weeks old

Physical Excellence Friday: Water Rescue

"Our definition of Physical Excellence includes being able to solve any physical problem encountered during life. This may include saving one's own life, or saving someone else's." 

-Douglas Doman, How to Teach Your Baby to Swim

Our swimming goals for this summer didn't used to include water rescue skills, except maybe self-rescue.

But it just sort of came up in the course of our swimming adventures. A lot of what-if's.

Here are some of the beginning water-rescue skills we have been working on:

• Throw, Don't Jump  The first thing we talked about was the use of the life preserver and other items available to throw out for someone who is drowning or distressed in the water. We talked about why it is dangerous to jump in for someone who is distressed, because in their panic they can cause both of you to drown. 

• Practice Throwing Assist  We brainstormed different things that could be thrown out to a distressed person to pull them in, including the life preserver with rope, the looped pole (stored near life preserver), and some other unconventional things, such as an out stretched towel or a hose. We also practiced why it is important to kneel or lay down when using a throwing assist, so you don't get pulled in, and to be very careful to throw the item near, not on, the person, so as to not knock them unconscious or cause more damage.

• Calling 911 No practice calls here, but we have talked about how to get help, specifically calling 911, and the Check-Call-Care procedure of checking the person, calling 911, then caring for them until more help arrives.

In another post I will talk about water safety and Douglas Doman's recommendations for things to teach your tiny child.

We are going to start talking about rescue breathing, CPR, and other first aid procedures from my American Red Cross manual. 

I figure, it's important to learn now. Because you're never too young to learn, and the younger and more frequently you learn something, the more it sticks. 

The more it becomes internal, permanent, and automatic.

And because kids are always full of surprises. So they may just one day surprise us with being a lot more capable than we give them credit for.

"He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions." 

Daniel 6:27

Hunter is 5 years, 5 months old

Sunny-Side Up in the Water: Learning How to Float

Yay for back floating!

Surprisingly Hunter was unable to do this until recently. I have seen people teach little babies how to float on their backs as a life-saving technique if they were ever to fall in the water. I'm not sure how they did it though. Hunter was first introduced to back-floating in his brief YMCA swimming class when he was two. But for the life of me I have not been able to get him to do it until this summer.

He hated it!

He actually did this for the first time during our long Fourth of July weekend camping. We had been practicing a little bit most every time we swam, and he finally built up the confidence (and balance) to independently defy gravity (well, sort of).

I have now started a new technique.

Instead of helping him by lifting him up to his back and then gently releasing him to float, I have been, well, not helping him. I usually throw him in and have him flip over and kick up his legs himself. He even ends up getting a little water splashed in his face or moving waves sent his way while trying to stay relaxed. (I'm lovely, I know)

But in the end my playful antics have helped him become a better floater and, more importantly, he has learned to use this technique to rest and relax despite the circumstances. Because I think that, even more than a wonderful exercise in balance, full body control, and as a result of that - brain development - that it is good to be able to rest and stay calm while mid water. You know, just in case.

His current time floating: two minutes. It was originally thirty seconds at a time.

I hope to be able to work up to five minutes straight by the end of the summer. But either way, we'll see. We're just having fun and learning something in the process, as always.

"Now therefore be not grieved... for God did send me before you to preserve life." 

Genesis 45:5

Hunter is 5 years, 4 months old

Head First: Diving and Streamlining

Step 1: Position feet so they are flat on the wall, knees together, bottom near edge and hands together above head

Step 2: Lean forward and dive out (not down), attempting to get hands and head in water first (not belly, which is kind of what he did in this picture). Push off wall with feet.

Step 3: Keep straight and kick with flutter kick (kicking from the hips and keeping legs straight, in small, quick kicks, not kicking from knees)

Continue to kick straight forward as far as possible until needing to come up for air

Dive. Kick. Swim.

Nothing really new (except the fact that he has gotten much more graceful at it) as I did these exercises with him since that lovely fall of 2007 when we managed to get to the local YMCA's pool once a week or so. (Hunter, at the time, was two).

But in our new swimming journey (in which Hunter has made his way above the water and made the adventure a lot more exciting) diving and streamlining has suddenly begun to take a key role in refining his swimming technique and improving his form, endurance, and confidence.

The benefits I have suddenly realized from this activity:

1. Helping him learn to keep his body straight and parallel with pool floor
2. Helping him learn the flutter kick (which is hard for him, he always wants to kick from the knees) by isolating it and being in a relaxed position
3. Improving his ability to hold his breath as he tries to get as far as he can before coming up for air

Convenient how these benefits perfectly line up with one of our big end-of-summer goals: learning the crawl stroke.

Which I only realized recently, what a nice activity this is. And so much more than learning how to dive.

Yay for those great realizations.

"Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness... make thy way straight before my face."

Psalm 5:8

Hunter is 5 years, 3 months old

Hunter Swims Length of Pool

While we were camping this weekend, we spent a lot of time at the camp site's pool.

Most of it was spent like this:

And this:

And this:

And doing "pencil dives" in the deep end, twisting jumps, cannon balls, catching balls and jumping for frisbees, racing, playing Marco Polo, and generally just messing around and having a good time. Made possible by his new-found swimming ability.

In the process of it all, though, he built the endurance (and courage) to swim the length of the pool. Nice little byproduct, eh?

"...and I will lead on softly, ...and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir."

Genesis 33:14

Hunter is 5 years, 3 months old

Head Out of Water

So Hunter decided that he can swim with his head above the water last weekend.

We've gone swimming a half dozen times this summer, and while it took me until last week just to get him to swim under water like he did at age three and four, (although I wasn't really focusing on it too much, we were mostly just splashing around) he can finally, legitimately, swim.

I am incredibly excited that it was so sudden and effortless, on both of our parts.

You can read the summer 2009 post and especially the summer 2008 post on a little bit about our journey in learning how to swim. Even though we don't have that long of a history in Hunter's learning (he hasn't gotten nearly the ideal opportunity / exposure to swimming), it has been a fun adventure and I'm so excited for where we are now.

What's next for us?

Well, seeing that my goal for this summer was to get him to get his head out of the water and, perhaps, perfect that head-above-water swimming, I guess we'll be working on the second half of that goal and hopefully progress from a professional dog-paddler to a bona fide crawl-stroker.

Using exercises from sections 4 and 5 of How to Teach Your Baby to Swim, we'll be breaking down the elements of the crawl stroke (1. breathing, 2. arm motions, 3. leg motions) in different, fun activities to work on each element individually, practicing diving, streamlining, back-floating, and, of course, lots of fun games.

Hope everyone else has a great swimming summer!

"Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered..." 

Psalm 18:15

Hunter is 5 years, 3 months old

A Fun Day at the Pool

We had an awesome time going swimming today. It was the same pool that we swam in last summer, and we did a lot of the same exercises, too.

Hunter did really good swimming. As expected, he was a little timid at first, but very quickly warmed up to it and was jumping in and out, in and out, in and out, swimming around like a little fish.

I was hoping that, this summer, he would learn how to swim above water (he still swims exclusively under water, which isn't very helpful safety-wise). We didn't really get that far today but, he had a really fun time, got a really good "work out" and build up a good deal of confidence about the water.

For exercises, we worked mostly on jumping in off the side and off of the diving board, swimming to the surface, climbing out of the pool independently and using the hands and feet to paddle. He's built a little bit of a "handicap" in swimming with his hands because, when he is at his Grandma's house he uses a sort of life jacket to swim, which he only needs to use his feet for in order to move. So it was a little bit hard to get him to use his hands but he was getting it after a while and was getting his head above water a few times.

But, other than the few exercises we worked on, we just had a fun time splashing around, playing with sand toys, and even occasionally relaxing on this warm summer day.

After we were done swimming and were starting to load everything in the car, Hunter made this little bed for himself out of Jordan's disassembled playpen. He was worn out!

"...Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

John 4:13-14

Hunter is 4 years, 3 months old

Swimming

Today on this absolutely beautiful Labor Day we took a swim in our little five-foot kiddie pool and enjoyed the passing summer sun.

We haven't done much swimming in that pool this summer, sadly, but it was nice to get out there and relax and have some fun. Some warm water from the house made the hose water extremely pleasant.

We got out goggles, a plastic pitcher, nesting cups, bubbles, some sinking toys, and a beach ball. I got in there with him, put up my feet and had a very fun time. We made "soup" out of the toys and also had some "tea time". We watched water pour through the holes in the bottom of some of the nesting cups and made big bubble by pushing the pitcher straight into the water, then tipping it to the side to let all the air burst forth to the surface. Hunter tried out his goggles and explored the bottom of the pool. I joined him, which he thought was pretty funny.

In a foot and a half of water you can't do much swimming, but Hunter did practice floating on his back and putting his face in the water. Hey - I'll take whatever I can get! I've really been lamenting that we didn't do more swimming this summer, but it motivates me even more to get our YMCA membership renewed so he can learn over the winter.

We hadn't laughed together so much in one sitting in a very long time, and it was nothing less than a wonderfully uplifting time of joy for the both of us. Of course, no one was there to get pictures of Hunter AND I in the pool, but even without the pictures it's moments like these that I will dearly treasure for the rest of my life.




























"Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted."

Psalm 89:15-16

Hunter is 3 years, 5 months old

Learning to Swim!

Yesterday Hunter got to experience the thrill of the water as we swam in an outdoor pool at a friend's house for a good two hours at least.

Hunter was a bit timid at first as he wasn't used to swimming without an inflatable (he uses a jacket at Grandma's house) but within just a few minutes he was swimming like a fish, not the slightest bit afraid in any sense of the word.

We started swimming at the YMCA on a regular basis up until February when our membership expired and I have been so busy I haven't yet made the time to renew it. I thought that it would take him quite a bit longer to get used to the water again, and really swimming and diving like he was before, but he surprised me immensely with his boldness and capabilities.

We did a lot of the ideas from How to Teach Your Baby to Swim. This book is geared towards parents who have started at the newborn to toddler level, and then taking you all the way up to six years of age, but we were able to adapt some of the techniques intended for tinier kids for Hunter. There really isn't that much to teaching a little kid how to swim, because in fact humans are born knowing how to swim. Here are some pictures of a few of the exercises we did:

This is what we like to call "dolphin rides" as he holds onto my neck and I swim around with him, and every now and then going "1, 2, 3, under!" for just a moment to get him used to being underwater. He didn't want to go under at first, and I didn't force him when he didn't want to, just gently coached him. Note that even though we haven't been swimming in a while we have been practicing "going under" and blowing bubbles almost every time we take a bath, as many kids are afraid of getting their faces wet.
By the end of our swim he excitedly counted down and exclaimed, "Under!" in anticipation when I rode him around.

Here I swam on my back and he held onto my shoulders while kicking. We made this one up because he wasn't wanting to be horizontal with the water and kick, and being on my stomach made him more comfortable. I'm looking to do more exercises like these to help him be a better swimmer in order to be able to swim on top of the water.

This is "twinkle, twinkle" as we call it where I help him float on his back while singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". He is very uneasy about floating on his back, as it is such a vulnerable position, but he did really well with a little bit of gentle coaching.

I made sure he had lots of practice climbing OUT of the pool as it is one of the most important safety skills if he were ever to fall in. I tried to give him minimal assistance to help him learn to do it on his own.

Here he gets ready to jump off the edge. At first he wanted me to be closer, closer, closer but after not very long he was comfortable with me being out of reaching distance.

Here he jumps to my excited arms.

This is his first time jumping off the diving board. Note that he WANTED to jump as he saw all the big kids doing it, but was a little nervous at first. I try to maintain a confident composure in spite of his tenseness. Also note that once he did his first jump I couldn't keep him off the diving board.

Here he has jumped in and is swimming to my waiting arms underwater. Even though he has barely begun to swim at all he can already swim a few feet underwater before coming up. At this point he can only get his face out up to the eye level and not yet get his hole face and, more importantly, his mouth out. But we'll get there soon.

Here is a later picture of him jumping off the diving board. Note how far away I am and how excited he is. I did not even have my arms up, as he jumped in, kicked to the surface and swam to me.

A big splash to waiting arms. :)

I am eager to share with other parents how much fun it is to teach your newborn, toddler, or preschooler how to swim. Even if you don't have your own home pool there are many opportunities to get some time in water in this 70%-water planet of ours, a starter would be your own bathtub. You only have to see one severely brain-injured child or worse, one parent of a dead child to have the motivation to teach your small child to swim. But beyond being a vitally important safety skill it is also a great deal of fun and highly beneficial to a child's physical and intellectual development as it stimulates so many different parts of the brain and uses so many different muscles.

This is the first set of pictures but we are looking forward to more on the way as the months progress!

"And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands."

Isaiah 25:11

Hunter is 3 years, 3 months old