Water Babies Graduation

Wow, so that's it! Sunday (just gone) saw Thomas complete his *final* Water Babies class!

(In contrast, this is what he looked like walking into his first ever lesson, which was when he was only 4 months old, in November last year)...

...(and in the water)...

Now, of course, he gets terribly excited about the whole affair, instead of just looking slightly baffled...knows he isn't all that fond of ending up underwater, but knows exactly what to do to remedy the situation and is happy and confident splashing around, climbing into the water and holding on to the edge all on his own (clever boy)...! We picked up his graduation certificate after the lesson and are going to mount it on his bedroom wall along with a (hand picked) picture, but I haven't quite decided which one yet...

So, a milestone, Thomas' first certificate (apart from the Birth one, obviously)...Baby swimming is over, it's on to Toddler Splash next! ;)

Very Important - Drowning doesn't look like drowning

Really have to share this...apparently when most people start to drown they go into a state known as the "Instinctive Drowning Response", and I quote "It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening"...

Drowning people cannot call out...
Drowning people cannot wave...
Drowning people cannot grab rescue equipment...
Drowning people frequently look like someone bobbing happily on the surface...

Do yourself (and your kids - if you have any) a favour and read the full article here...

Water Filled Weekend...

Thanks, in no small part, to the extremely hot weather recently (*pant*), we had rather a water filled weekend (just gone), starting on Saturday with our weekly splish-splash at Water Babies -

- who oddly waited until the week after the deadline (to choose if one is to renew) to suddenly introduce a load of fun new activities (meaning only two of us are continuing, which also probably means the end of our class - as that's probably not enough to make hiring the pool worthwhile)...

...humph...Anyway, Saturday night saw Thomas having a bath (Al Fresco) -

- and on Sunday Flyingpops spent 2 hours (and went through three pumps - including the neighbour's - which she broke) inflating Thomas a Volkswagen Beetle-themed paddling pool-


- which as you can see he enjoyed immensely (although he did cry a little bit when I started putting water in it, until he realised that splashing was now possible)... ;)

Baby Swimming - Term 2

So, despite a few unscheduled breaks (caused variously by either severe weather or nasty bugs), we are now well and truly into term 2 of the baby swimming classes we decided were a good idea after a rather scary experience on Honeymoon...so what can Thomas now do/cope with in the water at the age of seven months after a term (and-almost-a-half) of lessons?

Well, not *swim* obviously (Tomorrows world didn't do us any favours with their opening credits), babies can go underwater primarily because of the mammalian diving reflex, which is a totally involuntary system that slows the heart rate and seals air into the lungs (thus optimising respiration) triggered by water hitting the face...so the first thing he is *slowly* learning is to be perfectly calm when that happens and not fight it or panic - term one got us almost there, but this sort of conditioning takes time...

- going underwater is *fine*, even if no-one is holding on to you (although some weeks we do get some fussing for a few seconds when he's reunited with the air) -

- falling into water is okay (that one is just a game now - accompanied by a well known nursery rhyme)-

- but, if possible, climbing in yourself is preferable and actually most impressively (although slightly disturbing to watch as it's almost learning by aversion therapy in execution) is that one can save oneself from drowning by holding on to the edge of the pool-

- he got the hang of that one *rather* quickly (as you can see by his expression) -

- lastly, when in the water the general idea is to kick with the legs and reach and pull with the arms (various toys are involved in making that happen)

- but a bit of random splashing the rest of the time is fine...(and Thomas does a *lot* of splashing) -

- and (perhaps) most importantly is that being in the pool is lots and lots of *fun*... ;)