Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Swimming...
Doug absolutely LOVES the water....whether it is dripping from a faucet or is in a wading pool or is in a pool way, way, way too deep for him! When he first came home to us, I asked him (in Chinese) if he could swim. He replied in the affirmative quite resoundingly. Wrong! He LIKES the water, but he CANNOT yet swim. In the early days in our home, when I would leave him in the shower, I would often return to find him LAYING in the floor of the shower letting the water rain down upon his face and body. He once went so far as to ask me if he could sleep all night in the shower! But, the first time we took him to a pool, we found out immediately that though this child has no FEAR of the water, he sinks like a stone! That is a really dreadful combination! On our family vacation in May, we stayed at hotels that had pools. The first night, he just could not remember to stay where the water was no deeper than chest level. There was always that lure to go just a bit further. FOUR times in the first hour, I spotted him accidently getting over his head as his next tippy-toe step would bring him too far down the sloping floor of the pool. Each time I was far enough away that it took me a few seconds to reach him....all the while he would be floundering beneath the surface with his mouth wide open (we are still trying to teach him to SHUT his mouth when goes underwater!). Each time I would drag him to the surface certain that surely he now had a healthy respect for the danger of getting in over his head. Wrong! What he DID develop a healthy respect for, though, was that Mom would put him in time-out (OUTSIDE OF THE POOL) if he got careless and wandered deeper than the spot on his chest that I told him was the deepest he was allowed to go. It nearly killed him to be stuck on the side-lines out of the water when everyone else was still getting to swim. By the time we got the the Murrays, he was really good at staying where he could still keep his own head above water. And, he had begun imitating the swimming moves that he saw his older sister using to propel herself through the water. I think if we had had regular opportunities to swim this summer, Doug would have taught himself how to swim in no time.
As you can see, Rayna is quite fond of water, herself! When she came to us as a little baby, she LOVED having her face washed. I was used to Darcy's frantic objections (as an infant and toddler) to face washing, so I was really surprised that Rayna RELISHED having her face washed. She would smile and become so animated. She was equally enthusiastic about baths and even getting her hair washed. (Darcy had been terrified of baths....several of the babies in our group had come to us with burns on their bodies from being bathed in water that was too hot...so maybe her early bath experiences had been painful.) In Rayna's case, I suspect that bath-time
(or face washing time) was one of the few times that the babies got picked up and had INDIVIDUAL attention. At any rate, Rayna blossomed when being washed! She obviously associated the process with pleasure.
Rayna remains as fearless of the water as Doug...though she is not as impulsive so she is safer in the water. When she was a toddler, she would gladly let me dunk her underwater as I threw her up in the air and then caught her and dunked her down under the water. But, I noticed this summer (in what little swimming the kids have gotten to do) she isn't quite as enthusiastic about dunking under the water any more. Too bad. But at least she isn't afraid of the water. It took a LOT of effort on our part to get Darcy past her fear of the water. But, today, she can swim and loves to do so! ¶ 7/20/2005 01:43:00 AM
Doug absolutely LOVES the water....whether it is dripping from a faucet or is in a wading pool or is in a pool way, way, way too deep for him! When he first came home to us, I asked him (in Chinese) if he could swim. He replied in the affirmative quite resoundingly. Wrong! He LIKES the water, but he CANNOT yet swim. In the early days in our home, when I would leave him in the shower, I would often return to find him LAYING in the floor of the shower letting the water rain down upon his face and body. He once went so far as to ask me if he could sleep all night in the shower! But, the first time we took him to a pool, we found out immediately that though this child has no FEAR of the water, he sinks like a stone! That is a really dreadful combination! On our family vacation in May, we stayed at hotels that had pools. The first night, he just could not remember to stay where the water was no deeper than chest level. There was always that lure to go just a bit further. FOUR times in the first hour, I spotted him accidently getting over his head as his next tippy-toe step would bring him too far down the sloping floor of the pool. Each time I was far enough away that it took me a few seconds to reach him....all the while he would be floundering beneath the surface with his mouth wide open (we are still trying to teach him to SHUT his mouth when goes underwater!). Each time I would drag him to the surface certain that surely he now had a healthy respect for the danger of getting in over his head. Wrong! What he DID develop a healthy respect for, though, was that Mom would put him in time-out (OUTSIDE OF THE POOL) if he got careless and wandered deeper than the spot on his chest that I told him was the deepest he was allowed to go. It nearly killed him to be stuck on the side-lines out of the water when everyone else was still getting to swim. By the time we got the the Murrays, he was really good at staying where he could still keep his own head above water. And, he had begun imitating the swimming moves that he saw his older sister using to propel herself through the water. I think if we had had regular opportunities to swim this summer, Doug would have taught himself how to swim in no time.
As you can see, Rayna is quite fond of water, herself! When she came to us as a little baby, she LOVED having her face washed. I was used to Darcy's frantic objections (as an infant and toddler) to face washing, so I was really surprised that Rayna RELISHED having her face washed. She would smile and become so animated. She was equally enthusiastic about baths and even getting her hair washed. (Darcy had been terrified of baths....several of the babies in our group had come to us with burns on their bodies from being bathed in water that was too hot...so maybe her early bath experiences had been painful.) In Rayna's case, I suspect that bath-time
(or face washing time) was one of the few times that the babies got picked up and had INDIVIDUAL attention. At any rate, Rayna blossomed when being washed! She obviously associated the process with pleasure.Rayna remains as fearless of the water as Doug...though she is not as impulsive so she is safer in the water. When she was a toddler, she would gladly let me dunk her underwater as I threw her up in the air and then caught her and dunked her down under the water. But, I noticed this summer (in what little swimming the kids have gotten to do) she isn't quite as enthusiastic about dunking under the water any more. Too bad. But at least she isn't afraid of the water. It took a LOT of effort on our part to get Darcy past her fear of the water. But, today, she can swim and loves to do so! ¶ 7/20/2005 01:43:00 AM
