Ever since Leilani got over her fear of getting water in her face and eyes, she’s turned into a real water baby. She loves to play in the water at the beach, in the yard, and in bathtub. And her favorite thing is to pour water on her head and let it drip down her hair and face—I suppose it’s the pleasure of conquering her fear.
Last week she wanted to fill her small plastic pool in the yard and played in it several times one day, in addition to running in the sprinkler. Since it’s in the backyard, I can keep an eye on her and do laundry too. It seems like we’ve been taking a lot of baths and showers, too. That’s normal because we swim in the ocean a lot, but she usually rinses the salt off at the beach already.
On Monday, we had taken a shower in the morning, and when we went swimming at Lydgate after Aunty Joy’s, Leilani rinsed off in the shower by the beach. That evening before dinner, she asked for a bath. At first I said no because I figured she was clean enough and we are already using a lot of water around the house. But then I changed my mind because I don’t want to discourage her from washing (although she mostly plays, she does wash with soap when you ask her to). So I filled the tub for a small bath and let her play in it, no washing. Since I was in a hurry to make dinner, I didn’t empty it. After dinner and watching a bit of a movie, she had to go to the bathroom. When she saw the water and had her clothes off already, she just climbed right in. So I put some more warm water in and soaped her up this time.
I think we’ve gone swimming at Lydgate kiddie pool 4 days in a row now. Leilani is much braver now and plays in the “deeper” water. She used to just stay in the shallow water, sitting and laying down where the waves wash on the beach, never more than her knee-height (9 inches, 20 cm).
She really enjoys having the waves push her around and usually squeals or laughs with excitement when they do. Even though she wasn’t really swimming, I showed her how to kick her legs when she was laying down propped up on her arms.
Her older friend Jaya can hop and swim out to the middle of the pool area (about 2 feet deep, 70 cm), and I thought that would be great encouragement, but she never wanted to leave the shallow edge, even when being held by a parent.
But about two weeks ago, she started going a bit further, to the area where she can sit and have the water up to her neck, so about 18 inches (40 cm). She likes having her body underwater, but she can still kneel or stand up whenever a wave comes (the waves in the kiddie pool are only a few inches, though every now and then they can be almost a foot).
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Then when we were there last Monday afternoon, it was high tide, and that area was a little deeper. She still went there, even though the water was up to her chest when she was standing. Since it was too deep to kneel, she had to go a little deeper to get the full buoyancy on her body. That and she sometimes follows other kids around to see if they want to play with her.
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And so she ended up in the “deep” end, with water up to her shoulders. These photos were taken a day later, at lower tide. But when the water was deeper, she went in to her neck for a while. I was keeping an eye on the waves for her, but she was having fun bobbing up and down, bouncing with little jumps.
She has had her face underwater, but always accidentally. In the shallow parts, she sometimes gets toppled over by a wave. She sometimes gets water in her nose or throat and coughs, but she always goes back to playing in the water. Now that she goes deeper, waves have snuck up on her and gone above her nose, but she handles it the same way. I’m glad she’s able to deal with it, soon she’ll be able to control her breathing and then she won’t have the problem at all.
A few months ago, she didn’t want the water “wings” like the other children have, so we don’t put them on. I don’t know if she’d still reject them, but since we’re always next to her watching, we feel she doesn’t need them. I’m not sure if they’d give her more confidence in the deeper water or keep her from actually using her arms in a swimming motion to keep her head up. As it is, I feel that the kicking and hopping in deeper water are great for her to get a feel for moving her body in the water. After that, it’s just a question of having the coordination to learn the strokes.
But that’s not enough effect, so she turns the water on stronger, which at this shower means full blast. I don’t think she meant to turn it on this strong, but she’s willing to try any stream of water.
Before I turn it off, she wants to drink, which means more water on her face.
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But Leilani is not done with the water. After several sessions in the ocean (when she gets a bit cold, she asks to be dried off and cuddled in the towel—how can a daddy resist), she asks to go take a shower. I turn the water on not too strong (to save water and not blast her) and she immediately puts her head under.
As soon as she’s comfortable with the jet of water, she puts her head under, of course.
And then she turns it off by herself. She definitely loves to use lots of water, but she is good at turning off the water when she’s done, so I let her do it. Even when washing her hands in the sink, she’ll turn the water on carefully so it’s not too strong, and turn it off while soaping and when done. I really hope she keeps this habit. |
