ISR - End of Week 7

This was Izzy's last week of ISR classes. We spoke with Barb, the instructor, and Izzy's met all of the survival requirements. We hoped that she would do the "float-swim-float" thing, but she seems to be stuck at "float" with no inclination to do anything else :) So, instead of trying to force the issue anymore, we decided to hold off on any more lessons until the spring. By then, she may be more mature/motivated to progress farther. But she's done a FANTASTIC job through these lessons, and to see how far she's come is amazing. And I have confidence that this little girl can survive!!!
The last 3 days had Izzy in various states of seasonal clothing to try to simulate "real world" conditions. The last day was winter gear, and I think Izzy's coat might serve as a valuable floatation device! It took awhile for the water to soak in...and Izzy STILL wasn't happy to be in the water :)

She supposed to grab the bar with BOTH hands here :)

It's so cool to watch her do this....

After her lesson was over, Joacim and I got in the water with Izzy so that Barb could teach us a few things to work on with Izzy over the winter. I really want to make sure she doesn't forget a lot, so I'm going to try to go to the YMCA with her over the winter to practice. And we brought our other digital camera, which let's us go underwater....

Here she is swimming to Joacim..not a great angle, but it's hard to tell where's your actually shooting...

And even when Mamma's in the water and the lesson is over, she's STILL not happy :) I think it's a good thing that this was the last lesson, as I think this little girl is done with it all...


I would so HIGHLY recommend this class to anyone!!!!!!!

ISR - end of week 6

Izzy was feeling well enough today to go back to ISR lessons. We had missed the previous 2 days, and it's incredible what difference that makes for her.


She did a great job swimming to the bar in the beginning



And when it looks like she's not going to get it, she makes a great recovery...so cool to see her do this!




And it's so rewarding to see her put all of her little skills together, like in this video. Watch at the beginning how she starts to turn around instead of going to the bar. You think it's bad (which it's not really great), but she tries to swim, and then ROLLS OVER! She never would've done that had it not been for this class...AMAZING.

But she is always so happy once it's over for the day....

ISR - End of Week 5

She's still doing good, but we've also still got a ways go to. But this girl is GREAT about rolling over and floating..in fact, that's all she wants to do now :)

ISR - End of Week 4

We just finished up week 4 this past Friday. On Monday, I really thought we had "turned the corner" so-to-speak on the crying-thing. She was happy, laughing with Barb....nary a sad peep came out of her mouth. Then Tuesday and Wednesday, there was a new little girl before her, and HOLY COW this girl was a screamer!! And I think Izzy began sympathy crying with her :) And Izzy doesn't seem to like it when Barb throws new things at her, which she tried this week.

Here she is ready for the lesson to begin. She likes to peek around the corner and watch whoever is in the pool before her...

This is a familiar face...she still has trouble with the bar and pulling herself up on it. Clearly, NOT HAPPY.

But she sure is good about sticking her head in the water and swimming when prompted. Her little right leg, you'll notice, is straight. It stays that way most of the lesson. She's pretty good with only kicking one leg, so we're figuring she's figured that out too, and doesn't feel much of a need to try with her right one ;)

Barb makes a humming noise to let Izzy know that she's getting ready to swim, and Izzy will put her head in the water (even in mid-cry)

Here she is trying to roll over from a swimming face-down position. This is scary to watch, because ever bone in my body wants to jump in there and help her, but it's so fantastic when she does it all by herself...

And she's floating!!!!

More practice rolling. The goal at the end of this class is to have Izzy swim for 3-4 seconds, then roll over on her back and float to rest for a few seconds, and then roll over on her stomach again and swim, with the goal of getting to the side of the pool. Feels like we have a long way to go, but there's definitely progress being made.

Sad, but cute.

Joacim's in the motherland...and Week 3 of ISR

Joacim left for Sweden on Friday...for TWO WEEKS!!! I've been freaking out about this since I found out about the trip (it's work-related). I've only had to be a "single mom" for a few days back this last winter, but she wasn't mobile then so it wasn't that big of a deal. But NOW...whew....she's a handful!
Here's a photo of my two favorite people at the airport before he left. It was really hard for him to leave her this time since she's so much more aware of everything. I think he's afraid that she won't recognize him when he comes back, but I'm not worried. She runs around the house all the time yelling "Pappa" :)

Since he's been gone we've been keeping pretty busy. I kept Izzy home from daycare on Friday because she just hasn't been feeling well. She's been fighting a cold, and she hasn't been getting better, so I figured she needed a good day of rest, which is what we got. We were able to hang out, she got a good nap in, and thankfully she seems to be getting better. I didn't take her to her ISR class on Thursday because she had such a nasty hacky cough, but it was much better Friday afternoon so I took her. Here are some videos:



She's made so much progress in just 3 short weeks! And today she was INCREDIBLE!!! Not a single whimper, tear or yelp...she was all smiles. Can't wait for picture day Friday THIS week!

Here's some photos I took Friday evening of Izzy and Murphy playing together. I think Murphy hates it when Joacim's gone, because he gets even less attention. I've got LOADS of dog-mommy guilt...





You can't see her very well here because she's dancing

ISR - End of Week 2

Wow! I'm so far behind. We just finished week 3 and I'm only posting week 2...well, s$#% happens! :)

Week 2 was better than week 1, but not by much. She still cried a lot, but I can see that she's picking it up. It's great to watch her put her head in the water like she does. It seems as though EVERYTHING she does, she does with a purpose...

ISR - End of Week 1

We finished up week 1 of Izzy's ISR classes, and I'm still terribly impressed. By Wendesday, she was putting her face in the water and kicking her little arms and legs. At the end of the week, she was a bit more tired and slowing down a bit, but all-in-all it was GREAT! I've got a few videos to show...
The lesson starts out with some bar work...getting Izzy to see the bar underwater and grab onto it, pulling herself up. Sometimes she has a hard time and tries to use her feet against the side of the pool.

Izzy gets REALLY full of air, and she's not much of a burper, which ends up making her really bloated and cranky. That's why this burp was such a treat!

Then Barb works on Izzy grabbing her hand underwater, eventually moving to rolling...

At this point in the lesson, she's tired. We think she's saying "OUT" as in "I want out!!!"

Adn this is the best part of the lesson for her....THE END. It's a little weired how she just lays there, but she's gotta be EXHAUSTED. It's a good 7-8 minutes of intense work!

Izzy's ISR classes

Izzy started ISR classes on Monday. ISR stands for Infant Swimming Resource. Essentially, it's a class that will teach Izzy to float, alert and kick to the side if she were to fall into a body of water. Ok, that's not exactly the best explanation, but there are some GREAT videos on their website. Here's a link.

My friend, Liza, took her son through these classes, and I was amazed. I went to his first class to check it out, and I saw a video of the last class, and it was incredible what Cristian had learned! I'm convinced that this is such a wonderful opportunity for Izzy.

Now, of course, I was so hopeful that Izzy would take right to the water, since she LOVES taking baths, but of course, I was wrong :) No worries, though...I'm confident that in a few more days it'll be better, but the first day, she screamed like a banshee the ENTIRE TIME. The first lesson was only 5 minutes long (each lesson is no longer than 10 minutes), but it felt like the longest 5 minutes.





Well if this isn't the worst look we've received from her in some time...I felt so guilty

And yep, even after she was dressed, she was still crying!

From The Trunk's Junk

The good thing is that she ate the best she's eating after this lesson.
She was H-U-N-G-R-Y!!!

Tuesday's lesson had a little less screaming, but not much. Barb (her instructor) worked on getting Izzy to reach for the bar at the side of the pool, and to get her to close her mouth when her face is near water. She went under several times too. There isn't a lot scarier than watching Loppan sink under water with her eyes open, bubbles coming out of her mouth. She's under no more than 3-4 seconds at a time, but still...it's scary.

Today's lesson was awesome! Much less screaming, and Izzy actually had her head under water, floating on her belly...sometimes even kicking her feet! She did such a fantastic job!!! But she had TON of air in her belly tonight...hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow morning. The great thing is that she's SOOOO snuggly because she's so tired. I'm VERY excited about what I see with her and these classes!!! Friday is the next day I can take pictures, so you'll have to wait until then!