When Haley was in preschool they had a water table. Haley loved that thing. She would splash and soak herself and anyone within a three foot radius. I had to pack extra clothes, besides the extra clothes they had already asked for. They also had a bubble table which amounted to the same thing.
No standing water was safe. Grandma's "pond" (which was a galvanized bucket with plants and fish), the sink full of soapy water, or just a pot filled with water to soak, the gold panning table at a silver mine in Idaho. Haley splashes.
We have always had wading pools during the summer. Haley just goes nuts in those things. Big Sis tries to "swim" with her, but sometimes she can't even handle it.
Haley loves to swim, but to her it is just another opportunity to splash. When she was little we would go swimming and I would hold her. She held on for dear life with one hand and splashed with all her strength with the other. It was exausting (for me.) I got her a full flotation swimsuit in the hopes that I wouldn't have to hold on to her and that helped but it took her a while to feel comfortable in it. When she got tall enough to stand at the deep end she could still hold on to the side of the pool with one hand and splash with the other.
Haley has had swimming lessons. God bless the sweet girl that taught her, it was quite a challenge. I don't expect her to ever actually swim, but we tried. The lessons were in preparation for a trip to Arizona where we knew we would have many opportunities to swim. She actually did finally let go of the edge during that vacation after the third day of swimming. I still am near her in the water or on the edge ready to jump in at all times. The real issue is actually getting too close. The splashing is still incredible and the longer and stronger her arms get the bigger the diameter of the splash zone.
Haley gets to go swimming with her class once a month. Yesterday was a swimming day. They send home a note that announces that the following day is swimming and asks us to pack a swimsuit, towel and lunch. Haley looks so forward to this that she will now get her suit, towel and a plastic sack ready the moment she gets off the bus and put them in her backpack. She then tells me to make her a lunch. It takes me quite a while to get through to her that I will make her lunch in the morning like I always do.
I don't really know what goes on at the pool when she goes with the school. I know they go in the city bus (Haley says "C Bus") and her helper has to dress her into her suit and back in to her clothes. I am assuming someone gets in the water with her and I am sure she is only allowed in the shallow end, but I wonder how her classmates and teachers like the splashing.
Oh, and in case you are wondering. Yes, she splashes in the bathtub. I have to clean the entire room when she is done and sometimes I have to ask her to tone it down because some days I deal better with getting splashed then other days, but there is such joy in it for her I let her go. We don't get to swim very often and bathtime is the only good splashing time she gets.
No comments:
Post a Comment