Thursday, May 28, 2009

Logan learns water survival skills


They say that a child should learn water survival skills as soon as he is old enough to walk. It is important, especially when you have a pool in your backyard, that children know how to float if they accidentally fall in a pool. With much anticipation, Logan started lessons this week. We have heard horror stories of these water safety classes torturing kids by submersing them under water as they swallow gallons of water crying the whole time.

Thanks to a great coach discovered by Aunt Monica, our experience has been nothing short of awesome. Within minutes, Logan was floating on his back with his hands behind his head. He did cry through most of his first lesson, saying "all done" and "bye bye" during each break. He spent about 25 minutes on his back and when it was all over, he ran over to Brian and gave him a big hug and then burped for the next 2 minutes from all the air in his stomach.

The next day, he was able to float on his back all over the pool, even the deep end. He wasn't bothered by grazing up against the pool cleaner hose or walls of the pool. He kept his pose the whole time. When he saw Stefanie hold a camera to take a picture, he even said "cheese". Again, he spent the majority of his 30 minute lesson on his back without much assistance. When it was all over, this time he ran up to Stefanie and gave her a big hug while saying "Bye Bye Coke [coach]".

The third lesson was supposed to be the scary one where he is dunked under the water on his back and you hope he floats to the top and holds the correct position. He did great. He didn't cry. He kept his eyes and mouth closed and held his float position. Tomorrow, he will be dunked face down and we hope he'll know to turn over to his back.

For pictures of Logan swimming, click here.

We might as well take this opportunity to highlight some of Logan's other recent accomplishments. He knows all his colors, he can count to 3 and knows several other numbers like 8. He knows every letter of the alphabet from sight and sound. He knows several words (mostly body parts) in both English and Spanish. He has hand signals and sounds for most animals like touching his neck for a giraffe. He is also beginning to put 2 words together.