Wednesday, October 15, 2008

BabyWatch

Adam was born under the star sign of Aquarius (the watercarrier), so it was so apt that last weekend we took Adam swimming. Armed with his swimming nappy and dark blue Bob the Builder swimsuit, with orange high visibility arms, he was dressed for the part!

At first all the ruckus, in and around the pool, had Adam spooked and he was all too keen to give and receive some very serious and tight cuddles. Turning away from the screaming children and active parents, but looking over my shoulder to keep any eye on activities. When he sat down in the calm of the isolated baby pool and began splashing about, giving Adam praise for whenever he copied us, he didn't take long to get into the spirit of the swimming pool.

Within minutes and without prompting he began crawling across the circular pool, from shallow edges to deep centre, pausing to notice the water being circulated, then across to shallows of the other side, then back again.

When a baby girl joined him, using the tiny slide to slip into the shallow water with him, Adam was transfixed. The baby girl after three slides, some kicking splashes and a tumble, toddled off into the shallows of the main swimming pool with her mum.

Adam was then ready to follow the crowd and head into the adult pool. We first sat as a family in the shallows, getting him used to the ripples, waves and splashes of other swimmers. Then we took him into the deep end of the pool, so that Odette and I could stand up and support his first attempts to swim. Holding Adam at arms length, his back against our chest, we took it in turns to let him splash and kick for all he was worth. Then, after a little break, we then put him in the water on his back and instructed him to kick, left, right, left, right - which he did like a real trooper. Then on his belly, head just out of the water, he’d splash and kick, soaking everyone around him.
Had we the courage to let him go, I’m certain Adam would have swam off into the distance!

Odette and I had a wonderful time, but I think Adam got the biggest kick from watching slightly older boys and girls put their splashes to more effective use and you could see his brain ticking, trying to work out why their splashes generated movement, whilst his splashes just wet his face.

After drying off, we headed home to de-chlorinate and have some dinner. We had expected Adam to collapse with exhaustion, but no, like the Duracell Bunny that he is, he kept on going until 20:30hrs and this morning he was up before Odette or I.
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