Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Some pool time fun

Mark picked this up over the weekend and we've enjoyed it every day so far too! With it being so hot this pool has been a real life saver...or maybe sanity saver LOL

Robbie is quite the little dare-devil. He can stand comfortably in the pool so nothing holds him back which makes keeping an eye on him some times scary. He's daring enough to try different things like putting his head under water. He's become a little fish and swim lessons should be a lot of fun later in the summer.

Ian at this point loves the water as long as he can keep his head above water and touch the bottom. The minute he thinks he can't touch he freaks out...like when we went swimming in the hotel pool on the way home from Spring Break...and attaches himself like glue to the nearest adult. I did manage to get him to put his face in the water yesterday but he wouldn't get his hair wet. I'm not sure if it's just Ian or if it's some residual from his burn accident where we used the bath for changing dressings. I hope he'll enjoy lessons and be able to get over whatever this fear is.

Cam and Alex are fish in every sense of the word LOL Alex refused to take lessons two years ago when we had him signed up but is completely comfortable now. Both Cam and Alex are able to put their heads under and even open their eyes. Cam, having had some lessons two years ago, is able to float and do some basic strokes. Cam even spends a part of each pool time teaching Alex some of the things he knows...hopefully, this won't mess Alex up during lessons. Because of the move, the boys missed out on lessons last year so I put them both in the 1-3 level lesson here and we'll progress as the instructors advise. With Cam having already done level 1 in St. Helens (which appears to be equal to level 1 and 2 combine here) I hope he won't be just reviewing or that there will be space to move him in to the next level if he's too far advanced of the 1-3 group.

Unfortunately, it's also been a bit of a battle. The kids want to be in it 24/7 but I've made the rule that they can't be outside between 11am and 4pm as I'm not willing to risk their pale skin. The boys just don't get the fact that it's more than just how hot it is...expected to hit 103 today. So today I actually found this UV Index and had Cam look up what today's index is (7 by the way) and made him read that section. I think he gets it a bit more now. I've printed it out and put it by the door so we have an easy reference.

I have learned, through some trial and error, that Cam and Robbie have the more olive toned coloring thus burn less than Alex and Ian who have the classic red-head pale (would rather burn than tan) skin. Which is why Alex and Ian have t-shirts on in this picture even though all four were completely covered in sunscreen prior to hitting the water!

My outdoor ban has created it's own set of problems as everyone gets stir-crazy by mid-day. We're letting the boys stay up later (Wishing like anything that that translated to them sleeping in the next morning! No such luck yet.) so they can be outside for a decent period of time each day. Thank goodness we're in the desert and don't have any stagnant pools in the area so are mosquito free...which anyone who knows me understands the magnitude of that statement LOL

1 comment:

Em said...

so I am sitting here in school looking at the blog and wishing I was in the sun in a pool and we are talking about kids who have attitudes behavior problems etc and we start talking about paradoxical interventions. One child complained all the time so the therapist had the parents schedule time for the child to complain. So at 4pm the child could complain for 5 minutes, then at 5, he could complan for 5 min. then 6 he could complain for 5 minutes. So, basically within about a week the child quit complaining because the parents were controlling when they could complain. Thought it was interesting. maybe it works on adults too! I must try this with some people at work!