teach the children how to ride bikes, skate, and swim

We took the training wheels off of the big one’s bike, but he still can’t go more than 10 feet without falling. The balance issues are really coming into play here, but we’ll keep trying. The little one is going to get a two-wheeler for his spring birthday (shh!) and I really want the big one riding well before then, otherwise we may have trouble.

It’s still too warm here (in the 50s more days than not!) to think about the town ice rink even being set up, let alone frozen. I hope it didn’t get cut from the budget or put aside until next year. I’ll have to check on that. I’m still looking for skates, though.

The big one can really swim now. He’s learned the basics of all of the strokes (good thing the instructor told me that was the butterfly he was trying as I thought he had just gotten way out of rhythm doing the crawl), is learning to lift his head to breathe better, can go almost halfway across the pool, and is willing to jump in. He’s excited for cannonball contests with his cousins next summer. The little one doesn’t really swim any better but will be old enough to join the big one at swim lessons in the late spring (maybe… it depends on the exact cut off date, so he may miss it by a week or two).

The big one’s swim lessons started up again last week, and he was moved up a skill group. He’s not entirely pleased about it as he is terrified if he can’t touch the bottom and this group works in a 4 to 5 foot deep range. His instructors were thrilled with his progress since last May. He did something exciting at his lesson but won’t tell me what it was, saying I have to wait until we go to the next family swim session to see it.

The big one can swim! We went to the pool with his cousins a couple of weeks ago, and his younger cousin asked him to do the underwater chicken dance. AND HE DID IT! He put his face in the water! That was all it took. He can now swim. It’s not pretty, fast, or far, but all of that will come with practice. I’ve been swimming with him almost weekly for close to 7 years and wasn’t sure we’d ever get here!

At Disney, the little one went down the pool’s waterslide and ended up underwater for a second before I grabbed him at the bottom, and he was ok with it! So much swimming growth this summer!!

Today’s family swim went well for the little one. He wanted us to let go of him so he could swim on his own. Afraid and positive that he would panic if he went under, I couldn’t just say yes but didn’t want to say no. So we let him go back and forth between us, letting go of him for less than a second each time. It was enough to keep him happy, confident, and above water. The big one practiced things from his swim lesson and wasn’t too happy about it but was pleased to dog-paddle around with a swim bubble on his back after his practice time.

I just found out the town is going to flood a skating rink over one of the baseball fields next winter! Now I’ll start keeping my eyes open for good used skates! Both of them are doing a bit better with the bikes now that we’ve had a week of practice. Swimming is coming along too, with the big one’s lessons starting in a couple of days.

We went back to family swim last week but had to miss it this week. The little one did a terrific job swimming around with a noodle and the big one spent some time floating with a bubble without hanging on to one of us. That’s a good step. His swim lessons start next week.

It was warmish and the snow is mostly gone so the bikes came out today. The big one did ok considering that we haven’t been able to get them out for about 3 months but the little one can’t pedal a tricycle. Practice needed!

I took the older one skiing for the first time last week. I was very nervous about it as I haven’t skied in years and his balance, stability, and core strength aren’t very good and he was adamant about not wanting a lesson. My entire goal for the day was to have him enjoy it so he’d want to go back, and he did! He had a great time and skied very well, in my opinion. I am so proud of him for trying something new and scary and sticking to it.

These are three things I think everyone should know how to do. I tried teaching the older one how to swim at our weekly swims at the pool, but it’s not going well, so I signed him up for lessons. Of course, the pool is broken and closed until further notice (so no weekly swims either), but there’s not much else I can do about that just now. If it continues another few weeks, I’ll go to the other swim school. The little one is doing ok during our swims, so we’ll avoid lessons for at least a little bit longer. Skating and biking are harder. I think the little one is still too young and the older one has balance issues and can’t ride without training wheels still. Maybe I’ll ask his PT to help us with bike riding ideas. Mainly the goal is here so I won’t blow it off until they’re teenagers!