Will's swimming lessons

For the past month, Will has taken about 8 swimming lessons from a family friend, Mary Pat Cook. She has taught lots of kids for many years and she doesn't teach on a regular basis anymore, but she made an exception for Will. She is an Early Childhood Educator and has experience with children with special needs, so I thought she'd be a good fit for Will. She also doesn't cut Will any slack when he tries to direct or bargain or stall, so that was a good thing too. He had some good lessons and others where he wasn't as into it, but overall he learned some basics of swimming. He learned to put his face in and to put his hands straight out in front of him and kick. She would make him swim to the bottom of the pool (in the shallow end) and pick up diving sticks. She had him tread water ("ride a bicycle") while holding on to a "noodle". She had him lay on his back to learn to float. He resisted this some, but got the idea of it. They even practiced doing strokes with his arms ("throwing baseballs") while kicking. He didn't quite get the coordination of that but he could swim a few strokes. For his last lesson, the whole family came to watch - G.G, Grammy, Papaw, Ainsley, Mama and Daddy. Overall, he built up his endurance for kicking, learned to put his face in the water (and open his eyes), got a little more comfortable floating on his back, and could swim a few feet by kicking while his arms were straight out or by using strokes. He had a great time! Hopefully a few more summers of lessons will put it all together and he'll be a swimmer! And here are a couple of videos.

Random

Here are some pictures from random things and random days we've had this summer. Early in the summer, Mitch took Daisy to the doggie spa and she came home shaved!! We had always thought Daisy was a little on the large side, but maybe she's not so big after all!


I snapped a few pictures of Ainsley's hair. She didn't have hair for the longest time, but now it gets longer and thicker all the time. I love the curls in the back and I hope she always keeps them!

We recently started putting her hair in pigtails. This was our first attempt at them. Mama needs some major practice!! She was proud of them, but she was being defiant about us taking her picture, so this is the best one we could get.

Here she is one day right after she woke up. Her hair is a mess in the morning! I found her wearing this hat of Will's and playing with the refrigerator letters in the kitchen.

One rainy afternoon, Will wanted to got outside, so I let him get his umbrella, put on his boots and splash around in the puddles. He wanted to be outside by himself, so I stayed in the kitchen and watched him through the windows. He had a great time exploring and playing in the rain.



At Hope Landing, Will gets to be in the pool for all of his therapies one day a week. In PT, they work on strengthening his legs against the resistance of the water by jumping in the water, walking on his tip toes, putting weights on his legs; and they work on balance by sitting on the kick board and moving around in the water. Here he is with Mrs. Casey.


I didn't get any pictures of OT, but they work on things like: strengthening his arms in the water with wrist weights, strengthen his hands by having him squeeze various sponges, and practicing writing with water proof crayons.
Speech works on a variety of language and articulation goals. Here is Will counting and jumping to Mrs. Suzanne.

And here is Will being silly after therapy. He found a cowboy hat and struck a pose. Note the ironic "feed me" shirt.