Greg signed the kids up for swim lessons this summer. The first two week session the kids did before we went on our 4th of July vacation. They both ‘graduated’ with a ribbon at level 2. We spent a lot of time in the pool during our vacation and Brianna took to it quickly. She was jumping to Greg or Grandma in the water either doing a cannon ball or Nestea plunge. She had no fear. Liam did much better this summer, he could ‘walk’ around in the shallow end and loved the water gun fights with everyone, but still didn’t like getting his head/face wet.
The kids just finished the last two weeks of swim class. Brianna can now float for 10 seconds on her back by herself. She can float on her front for 5 seconds by herself. She can put her hands over her head in the streamline position and kick – basically swimming very slowly either on her back or front without help. She has near perfect form for a 3 year old. She just has a natural point to her toes and kick. And she always has a huge smile on her face while she’s in the water. Liam floated on his back by himself for 1 or 2 seconds. As soon as he felt the instructor’s hands move he would tense up and pull into a ball causing him to start to sink. He won’t even put his face in the water to be able to float on his front. He does use a kick board and can kick the length of the pool as long as the instructor is right there. They again got ribbons for completing the class. Brianna ‘graduated’ at level 4 and Liam at level 2.
I can’t tell you how many people commented to either Greg or I about how well Brianna was doing and how fast she was progressing. Even the head instructor said Brianna was progressing faster than anyone she’d ever seen at her age. Greg and I think she’s going to be an Olympic swimmer or diver and we’re going to keep nurturing her love of the water. Liam will continue to take lessons until he can swim for safety reasons, but it’s not his talent. He’s going to be starting soccer soon, which Greg tells me Liam has a natural talent for – evidently he’s got really good ball control. It might have something to do with the fact that Greg loves to play soccer with Liam, so he gets a lot of practice. But Greg is the expert in this area and if he says that Liam has a natural soccer talent then who am I to say otherwise.
So while Brianna got the Boyd family love of the water, Liam got the Hogan healthy fear of the water. My dad was telling me at one of the swim classes how he never liked to swim and was no good at it, so it’s genetic and Liam just got the short end of the stick from us (Dad and I). Oh well, he can be the next David Beckham, while Brianna is the next . . . uhm Dana Torres, Greg Louganis?
By the way, Olympic positions for warm towel hander outer and crazed family member with signs have already been taken by Brianna’s aunts.
P.S. I'll post photos once I figure out how to get them from my blackberry onto my computer.
2 comments:
Thanks for this great update! So glad to hear about their progress and so excited about Brianna's talent. As for Liam's soccer talent, Mike and I both made the comment that soccer was his thing. The night we took them to the movies, we played soccer in the commons area afteward and Liam was GOOD. Even in one of our pictures we noticed that he looks like a professional handling the ball!
Love,
Proud Aunt Jennifer (and warm towel hander outer)
with blackberry connect to computer via usb cord, navigate on your explorer on your computer to the blackberry and double click...then navigate to pictures and copy/cut & paste.
When trying to find your blackberry in explorer, you may need to map the drive if you don't see it. Hopefully you'll see it.
That's totally awesome about Brianna's swimming abilities...I think it's cuz she's younger and thinks there's no such thing as drowning. I'm sure Liam will pick it up better next summer when he feels more confident. We're trying to teach Morgan to swim right now and we waited too long too.
-tracee
Post a Comment