Swimming

Ben and Alex had their last swimming lesson yesterday.
Unfortunately it got too difficult to organise a lesson that fitted in with life.
I currently have Wednesdays off work, and I will be keeping this day off when Alex starts school. (fits in with my study that I am about to start, go check here for more details)
So therefore swimming has to be on a Wednesday, but they could only give Alex a lesson at 4.30pm.
This is way too late in the day for a little boy who has just turned 5 and has started school.
With finishing school at 3pm and then having to wait until 4.30pm for a lesson, I know that by that time he will be past it, will not pay attention and therefore the lesson will be a waste of time and money.

So with much sadness for Alex's lesson, because he was the one who was enjoying the lessons the most, we said goodbye to the lovely teacher he has had for the last year.
I am not worried about their ability to swim. I feel that they have learnt some very good basics and will be fine. They will go swimming in the pool at the caravan and will one day pick up lessons again.

Swimming Update

Alex has been working hard with his swimming recently.


He looks like a little champion channel swimmer.

He loves going under the water and then staying there for a long time. Sometimes a little longer than the teacher likes!

School Update

Ben is loving school, that simple.
Me, well not so sure, more I wish they would share information with us??

Last week I collected Ben from After School Care and he annouced to me 'tomorrow I need to bring my swim suit!'
I was like 'oh really, says who, where is the note??'

So I decided to go and see if his teacher was still in her room, bearing in mind that it was 5pm!
She was there and I verified with her what Ben had told me...
Her answer......'you need to believe you son!'

Now to me swimming is a big deal. I had questions...

1. When were they going swimming?
2. What did they need to bring?
3. Who was taking the lessons, seeing as there are 19 in the class?
4. How often are they going?

She was very laid back about the whole thing, but to me as a first time school mum, I expected more. I expected a note explaining that the class was going to start swimming, when it was going to happen, what they needed to wear and bring with them, what they couldn't wear (girls are not allowed to wear bikinis), how often this would take place and whether there was anything we needed to let the school know about our child.

Unfortunately I do not have the luxury of visiting the school everyday that Ben goes because I work, but luckily I was there today, with swimming stuff just in case, due to the fact I didn't know if he had swimming today?

There on the white board at the front of the class was a schedule for swimming, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Nice to finally know, but would have been so much nicer and easier if they had actually communicated with the parents so we all know what is going on, we are new to this after all.

Swimming

Swimming lessons are going well at the moment.

We spent the weekend at the caravan and the boys always do so well when we return because they have spent so much time swimming over the weekend.

Alex spent the whole weekend with a flutter board swimming back and forth across the pool. So now his kicking has improved and because of that he has achieved everything in his current class to be able to move up to the next one.

So well done to Alex who is now a Turtle 2.

If Ben was not at school, then they would both now be in the same class. A little daunting to think that because I know that Ben is so much a better swimmer than Alex, but I think when they get to be a Turtle 2 then they tend to stall in their progression for a little while. But then having said that we may find that when Ben has his lesson this afternoon we could come away with him moving up a class. You just never know with kids!

Alex Swimming

Alex had his swimming lesson this week and as usual loved it.

He has learnt how to float on his back and it is so funny to watch the teacher give him his float board, lay him on his back and then just go off and leave him floating around the pool, where he will just float for ages without going under.

Just floating around

They also tried a new activity this week, which was to sit on the floating board with their back to the teacher and then the teacher helped them to fall backwards into the water. Some of the children just fell back and others managed to do a roll at the same time as falling in, thus making them come up standing the right way up.

Alex wasn't so sure of this as he was told to put his goggles on his head and he didn't like that so much, said it hurt and that he wanted them on his eyes like normal.

I sit on the board like this.....

And then I end up in the water like this.

More Swimming

As the boys are not feeling the greatest, then I asked Ben if he wanted to attend his swimming lesson today?
Yes, he did want to go.
Fine, but then up peeped a little voice saying "Me go under today too?"
So then I had to organise a quick lesson for Alex as well.
Luckily he had a make up lesson to do and they were able to accomodate us.
So do I know have 2 children that are really into swimming?
Alex has suddenly gained all this confidence in the water and wants to go in as soon as he has got out!
At the moment I think he would go swimming everyday if I let him or was able to let him.
Which is a good thing considering how he was earlier in the year, and hey, they don't at present do any other activity so why not let them do swimming.

Alex and Swimming

Alex has discovered the joy of going under the water.

He discovered this new found freedom at swimming lessons last week.

This weekend we went to the caravan, our last trip there before the mayhem of the wedding starts.

He spent the whole time in the pool under the water, ok this had a few moments of coming back to bite us, like when he drank too much water and puked on the side of the pool, would have been alright if the adult pool hadn't been completely full with all these people watching me deal with a 3 yr old puking everywhere!

Otherwise he had a ball in the pool. So nice to see him eager to go swimming like Ben.

So of course this meant that when we had lessons today Alex was so full of himself, and it showed.

He was fabulous in his class today, so much so that he is no longer an Octopus but is now a fully fledged Turtle.

Way to go little man, we are so proud of you.

Swimming

Ben has gone up another class at swimming.

He is still a turtle but is now in Turtle 2 not 1.

He is loving his swimming and doing so well.

We are really proud of him.

More Swimming

I had the delight yesterday of taking both boys to swimming lessons and my swim suit stayed firmly at home.

Alex was even running to get into the water....yea!

He had his first Octopus class on Monday and it went very well. I was able to sit on the step for a while and then I backed off onto the chairs, half way through the class I went and got changed and sat and watched the class like all the other mum's.

Sadly due to me doing 3 weeks full time work and with next Monday being a Public Holiday, that meant Alex's swimming lessons were over for 4 weeks. So I had a brain wave and managed to get him a make up class yesterday for one he was owed.

He had a ball, the teacher was fabulous, she had him swimming with flutter boards under his arms and blowing bubbles in the water as he did it. I was so proud, especially when I think back to how he was just over a week ago. I never thought we would get to this point of swimming with him.

He was hanging on to the wall and moving along, going into the deep water, but still hanging onto the side like he was asked too. He just took it all in his stride and was such a big boy.

That made me decide to pay for 1 extra lesson next week just so he has continuity with this confidence, otherwise I can see him taking at least 2 steps back in the 4 weeks he doesn't have lessons and that would be a real shame.

To go from a little boy who was clinging to mum anytime we went in the water to one little boy who practically runs to get into the water ready for his lesson within a weeks or so is amazing.

I have no worries about taking them away from lessons for the 3 weeks now as I know they will be fine when we come back to it.

Ben's Swimming

Ben is still loving his lessons. Such a shame they will have a 4 week break whilst I am working full time, but that is life.

Anyway I couldn't resist this cute picture of the future Olympic swimmer who will represent England or New Zealand, which ever one he chooses.

Swimming for Alex

Swimming lessons have been going so well for Ben.

Alex on the other hand has not been so good.

When I first registered them for lessons, I discovered that until he was 3 I would have to get in with him, no problems.

The problem was that he didn't seem to like the water.

Funny as seeing how much he loves swimming at the caravan!

Anyway, this has been going on for several weeks now. Donna the Teacher (of Seahorse Class) has been fantastic. She has loads of patience with Alex and has gained his confidence.

Sadly this has not helped and Alex has still spent most of the lesson in tears, shaking and clinging to me when ever we are in the water, he is ok if he is stood on the step.

Today Donna had a brain wave, seeing as he is just about 3, and the teacher taking the next class up (Octopus) had no students, she decided to try him out with the new teacher.

The Octopus class is a lot more about them doing everything. So they are in the shallower water and they walk about more getting their own confidence.

They chase after balls, pick up objects from the step under the water, splash each other etc.

Well it was like having a different child in the water for the last 15 minutes.

He was full of smiles, happily doing things, giving me kisses and big hugs and generally having a great time.

He tipped water over his head pretending to be in a shower, he picked up toys from the step, although his face never actually went in the water, but his chin did, so getting there slowly.

They even think that give it a couple of lessons and I won't even have to get in the water with him. This will be a slow process of me getting in, but remaining on the step whilst the lesson takes place. Thus allowing him the chance to feel confident knowing I am there with him but not actually being there with him.

So Alex is now an Octopus.

Maybe in a couple of weeks we will have 2 boys both looking forward to swimming lessons.

Swimming Update

Ben got moved up to the next class at swimming on Monday.
He is now a Turtle.
He had his first Turtle lesson today and it was real swimming.
I am so proud of him.
He has worked so hard this last week on his swimming and he has come so far.
Today he was swimming with his head in the water, floating on his back. learning to get his hands in a diving position and also how to jump into the water in different ways.
Sadly when he goes to school in September we may have to cut down his lessons to 1 a week if he has other things he wants to do, but I will happily take him to lessons twice a week if that is what he wants to do.
I must say it wasn't an activity I had thought of him getting into.

Water Baby

We have created a water baby - Ben!

We are spending another weekend at our caravan and of course with the pool here we are in it at least twice a day, and that means his swimming is improving every hour!

After we spent Easter here we went home and sorted out swimming lessons.
So Ben now has lessons twice a week, Alex has 1 a week.
Ben has only been having lessons for 2 weeks now and I hadn't really seen too much improvement in those lessons but I wasn't expecting too much in the first few weeks, but I sure as hell wasn't expecting to see improvement in him in one day at the caravan.

Yesterday morning we went swimming and he was floating around the pool on his own with a ring, he would go over everything he had done in lessons with us and we practiced them so he was getting better at them. Things like floating on your back with float boards, floating on your front and putting your face in the water for a second.

Yesterday afternoon my cousin and her family came to join us for a couple of hours and everyone went in the pool, by the time we got out Ben was swimming under water almost across the whole pool by himself, although he can't come up for air as he doesn't know how to! But as long as he is swimming to someone he is fine.

He was taking himself under the water at every opportunity, and that was every second he was in the pool.
I have never seen such an improvement in confidence in such a short time frame.
He tried on Jazz'z goggles and that set him off further, he was going under to touch the bottom, wave at others who would go under with him etc.

So yesterday afternoon we went and brought him some goggles, and now all we keep hearing is "can we go swimming please?"
As I write this, he is currently in the pool, they have been for the last hour! And Ben has too much confidence for his own good. We are frantically trying to teach him how to come up for air, how you have to be able to swim on the surface to be safe and anything else we can teach him without scaring him, because now he has this new talent we want to extend it, but safely without scaring him, but I do feel he will come a cropper a few times before he realises just what he doesn't know, and until that happens we will be watching him like a hawk and being there to catch him everytime he throws himself in and swims under the water to us.

On Monday he has another swimming lesson, I will be making sure they get to see him in action because I think my little Octopus (swim class name) may just graduate up to a turtle by his lesson on Wednesday! Last week I asked the teacher what we could work on to help him improve...she said being able to put his face in the water for a few seconds. I.e stand in the water and just put your face through the surface, not quite sure she meant for him to be able to swim from one side of the pool to the other under water!

He reminds me of my brother, because when Iain was first learning to swim he swam like a fish under the water but it took him a while to master swimming above the water. One look at Ben swimming today and it is Iain all the way!

Swimming Lessons

Because they both came along so well whilst we were away we decided to check out some lessons for them.
So we are checking out a place tomorrow afternoon when the boys will have an assessment to see which class they will be put into.
Hopefully it will be ok and the boys will gain a lot more confidence in and around the water.

This will be very helpful with going to the pool at the caravan all the time

Swimming

At the place we have the caravan are some hotspring pools. Nothing huge or anything, just a semi medium pool and a small adult soaking pool (this is a lot hotter than the main pool, no kids allowed)

So whilst at the caravan for 5 days it turned out we went swimming at least twice a day!

The boys loved it, well eventually.

Going swimming

Ben had no problem, he got more confident as the days went by. Jumping off the side to us, trying to swim form one of us to the other, unfortunately most of it was under the water, but at least he is not afraid of his face in the water now.

Alex was not a happy chappy for a while but by about the 3rd time of going he was now getting in himself with his ring and happily floating around on his own, kicking his legs and getting himself places.

Dady can you help me please

Off we go...

Ring a ring o rosies

So in just 5 days they have both come so far!