Just keep swimming

So, I have written before about Diddles interest in swimming from an early age. He is a water baby yet he has not moved on from the arm bands stage. Mostly because his attention span was so short and it was just something he enjoyed doing alone (like most things really). Now that he is a little more verbal and his receptive speech has improved we have decided to take the plunge and get him one to one swimming lessons. It is so difficult to find one particular activity that he truly enjoys without anxiety creeping into his head and ruining his good time! So for the moment it's swimming and we are going to attempt to keep his interest in it and harness this natural ability he has. I watched him tonight at his first lesson. He got into the pool without anyone giving him any direction. He paddled in his floatie suit from the deep end to the shallow end paying absolutely no attention to the instructor for the first ten minutes or so. Then every so often there was a little glance in her direction. He was warming to her. She brought out some toys the first of which was a ball she threw into the water. Diddles insisted "NO BALL!" She then suggested these funky little water weights and he refused them too. She began to play along side Diddles, parallel play if you like and sure enough when he realised what the purpose of this thing was he was straight over interacting with her, lots of eye contact and giggles and answering her questions with one or two word answers. Then after 20 minutes he was actually commenting without any prompting "oh that's a big splash in the water". Em ... eight words in a sentence is just so much of an achievement for him. He has oodles of ability but unless he warms to you, you are just never going to see it! Diddles is six and a half now and his speech is finally coming, social interaction is his most challenging obstacle and it's finally really clear to us that he does want to over come it he just needs people to give him a little time! So until people can realise that he'll just keep swimming!

Try, try again!

Days out used to be a nightmare with Diddles when he was 3/4, he was like an overgrown very irritated toddler but now that he is 5, it is like something has clicked and he has new interests emerging all the time! We brought him bowling for the second time ever yesterday and he was so focused and absolutely loved that he could be involved in the game. He was so excited and yet still patiently waited for his turn to come around ( and there were 5 other people to take turns). "Patiently" and "waited" are not words I would usually have near a sentence with his name in it! It is great to see an interest that is not computer game related or TV related. He got a real thrill from bowling and even managed a spare or two! 

We also brought the boys to a kids amusement center afterward and he got on the bumper boats with his Dad. After refusing only once and then ten minutes later he realised it was safe and said "I want boats please". This seems to be a pattern with him, he always refuses once then goes to mull over the concept for a while and gives in to his curiosity. So it seems the protest is only fear of the unknown.

On summer holidays last year we realised he was a real water baby! I can not swim. I never learned and I am very ashamed of that fact. Me being a true Piscean and all! I am a wimp but I really am trying to conquer the fear, My brother has been trying to teach me on holidays over the last two years. I always seem to think I'm drowning when my head goes under the water I panic and end up swallowing a litre of chlorine (blech!) I'll never stop trying until I get it! 

But Diddles AMAZED us in the water. I actually could not believe how fearless he was. He put on his little life jacket and either jumped into the pool or carefully walked down the steps (depending on the mood), then he proceeded to swim the whole length and breadth of the pool, a lot of the time in the Deep end. He actually taught himself to swim. Needless to say he slept better on that holiday then he ever has!

  Madman has been really benefiting from all the DIY speech therapy I have been doing at home. He has not stopped yapping, Talk about complete opposites as toddlers! The only time he's quiet is if he knows he is up to no good or stuffing his gorgeous little face. He is the biggest flirt, a regular little Casanova, every female, be it Police woman or cashier in a 10 mile radius gets a really loud "Hiiiiiiiii", a wave and a huge (almost toothily) smile. He is a little character in the making. He even has the most Macho walk I have ever seen on a one year old! MAD but in a great way. The only references to Toddlerdom we have had are those of his Autie brother so this is all new for us! He never fails to make you smile!

Deep in meaningful conversation in a pub! (He's definitely starting early)