Brendon went to his second swimming lesson yesterday. He really doesn't like having his head put under water as he cried and cried afterwards! Last week I was really nervous about making him swim underwater, but wasn't so nervous about it this time. Nonetheless, I felt really guilty as a mother when he surfaced and looked at me and started crying! He swims with his eyes open, so I think maybe the chlorine is stinging his eyes. Mathew suggested getting him some swimming goggles. I might need to talk to Helen to get her professional opinion on that.
He is 6 months old tomorrow! Going through labour now seems like a lifetime ago.
This Friday we start having a volunteer from Children and Family Health Service come and mind Brendon while I get some gardening, housework, food shopping, etc done. The program goes for 6 Fridays. We qualify for a volunteer because we don't have any family in SA. We met the volunteer yesterday and Brendon really seemed to like her, he even gave her a hug. She seems really nice. It should give me the opportunity to tidy up the garden before Winter sets in.
We went to the Zoo on Sunday. It was a mini club event, but we were the only members to turn up. So it ended up being a nice family outing for us. The weather was perfect and we got to see lots of animals, including the pandas. The highlights of the day were the giraffes, sea lions and hippos. Brendon seemed to enjoy the day but spent most of his time looking at all the other people and kids instead of the animals. At the entrance to the Zoo we saw Chinese people in a Dragon costume dancing to drums as there were some Chinese officials visiting the Zoo that day. It was quite a treat.
Brendon and I went to the Pregnancy, Babies and Children's Expo on Friday. Thank goodness we went there early, there were heaps of people and prams. There were a lot of stalls and products to look at. I bought a hand made Helicopter mobile for Brendon's room. I'm sure the last thing Mathew wants to look at when he gets home is helicopters, but it was so cute I couldn't resist!
Hi Pauline,
ReplyDeleteHad to comment on this one:-) Swimming is great - I'm sure you've spent some time with Brendon in the water aside from the lessons anyway. Our teaching guidleines ALWAYS recommend that a baby is able to breath hold before you immerse them in the water. To do this you start very gently by pouring water over the ack of their head and only a little over their front on a mantra - Somethting like READY- 1- 2- 3- BLOW... After alot of repeats you will see them automatically close their eyes as the water pours over and after alot more repeats you will see them intake air on the count 3 as well as close thier eyes. We did this mantra with Tegan every bath at least a few times till she was nearly a year old. Lots of swim classes take them under once during the lesson - which is fine but make sure they are using the high lift and airplane landing immersion technique. Your class should be open to you saying your child is not comfortable with it yet :-) I think they get just as much from being immersed in the water, kicking, you kicking for them etc than actually going under. When I took Tegan I mostly enjoyed the socialisation! Tegan was ready by about 6+months to go under. Then about 9months she didn't like it for about 1 month. We didn't force and let her set the pace... at about 10 months she was all for it and started to self immerse a little while later. Brendon will also react to your stress - if he saw you being anxious about going under he may have even just reacted to that...
I have some great VHS videos for introducing babies to water if you want one I can send it to you.
Lastly babies always open their eyes under the water, they have a special coating on their eyes that disappear somewhere between 1-2 years. They see much better than you or I underwater and will not get a reaction from chlorine. Brendon looks very very happy in his bath while camping!
Hope this helped
Helen