Experiments in Buoyancy

Ben's in his third week of swim (float) lessons. He floats well, no surprise there, but getting to the float has been difficult. The good thing is that swim lessons have revealed some areas of weakness and quirks of his, especially in regards to right brain-left brain movement and tactile sensitivity. Like when he has a swim shoe on his left foot only, he will kick with both legs and be decisive about which direction he wants to turn in to roll over and float. Without the shoe, his left leg stiffens and he gets stuck (with his face underwater) turning in either direction but not completely rolling over. So the wonderful Linda Green keeps coming up with new ideas to try and new movements to encourage him and teach him and which we can work on both in water and on "land." He has been moving more lately, making great strides in his efforts to crawl, and we're slowly figuring him out.

The difference between Rebekah's swim lessons last year and earlier this summer and Ben's is night and day. Rebekah, the drama queen, would go limp, have tantrums, scream and yell the whole time her face was out of the water. Ben fusses a bit when I hand him over and that's it. Barely a whimper during the whole lesson. I would have to cover my mouth so Rebekah didn't see me laugh during her lessons. Ben, I just feel so sad for because he's just taking whatever is thrown at him. What a trooper!