Swimming Like a Fish

Being attracted to nearly any source of water, having parents who enjoy swimming, exhibiting a huge interest in fish and aquatic animals, and being a Florida resident have almost destined Li'l Girlie for swimming lessons early in life. Infant/Toddler swim programs abound in Central Florida, but I wanted to make sure that we did one that would help Li'l Girlie if she was in a potential drowning situation. Knowing her enjoyment of water and curiosity, it seemed the smartest thing for us to do.

We know of several families who've lost children in drowning accidents and another family whose son is still alive and well only by the grace of God including his quick-acting mom and the help of an EMT. Drowning is a leading cause of infant/young childrens' death in Florida, so we're so glad that something like Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) is out there to teach young children skills they need to survive in the water.  For toddlers, ISR teaches a swim-float-swim sequence to help a child get to the edge of a pool or shore of a pond/lake.  Lessons are 10 minutes each, 5 days a week for 4-6 weeks, and parents learn a lot about swimming safety as well through interacting with the instructor and the parents' resource handbook.

While it can be tough watching your child through the first several lessons especially -- many kids cry or fuss due to the completely new situation they're put in, seeing your child learning life-saving skills is really rewarding.  The instructors take great care to insure the childrens' safety and personalize the intensity and duration of the lesson (up to 10 min.) depending on how the child is doing that day.  I also love that the lessons are one-on-one; my child has her instructor's full attention, and in the case of our instructor training a new instructor, 2 on one.

Yes, it's a bit pricey.   Yes, you keep a log of your child's eating, sleeping, pooping, etc. each day to help the instructor determine what is the safest and best way to handle your child's lesson each day.  But knowing what she's learning could one day save her life in a situation as common as falling into a pool is priceless.

Here's a short clip of Li'l Girlie's 6th lesson.  You can tell she's already digging it.  :)



We ended up doing our ISR lessons through Safe Start, a unique drowning prevention effort in central and south Florida that partners with community centers like YMCAs and JCCs.  We have a YMCA 10 minutes from our house with an indoor pool, so it's a sweet situation.  For those of you who wonder why an indoor pool is important to me...Central FL late spring/early summer afternoons = thunderstorms.  Not so swim-friendly.

I've had some great conversations with Li'l Girlie over the last week since she talks about swimming lessons a ton during the day.  My favorite: 'swim underwawa touch fish, pop up see mama' (swimming to the wall where there's a fish decal, then pulling up on the wall to see me sitting there cheering her on).  That, and 'more swim underwawa please.'

Mother/Daughter Smoothies

Taking a sip of smoothie
Originally uploaded by bunnyfabulous

I like cooking and want to help Li'l Girlie get involved with it from early on and have fun with food. She's two, so I can't exactly hand her a knife and have her help chop, so I'd been trying to think of something she could help with on a regular basis. Then, to try get out of the rut of having cereal for breakfast every day, I started whipping up some healthy smoothies for the three of us, and our kitchen adventures began.



Li'l Girlie names the ingredients as I plop them into in the blender, and she, of course, is the official 'vroom-er' A.K.A. the person who pushes the buttons on the blender to make it go vroom. She takes her job very seriously, and consults with me on whether it needs more juice or soy milk. We pour it into glasses for Mommy and Daddy, and she gets to sip out of each.

Even better, these smoothies are super-healthy, delicious and contain VEGETABLES. Yes, it's a great way to get a little extra green into a choosy toddler's diet.

Here's my 'recipe.' I don't measure much of anything, so this is just my best guess as to the quantities.

1/2 banana
1/2 ripe avocado
1 cup frozen berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries or blueberries, or any combination thereof that appeals to you)
1 handful raw spinach leaves or raw kale greens
3/4 cup greek-style yogurt (we prefer vanilla, but fruit-flavored works well too)
1/2 cup soy milk (or regular milk if you want)
1/2 cup grape juice or berry juice blend

Put all ingredients in blender and blend together. Add more soy milk and/or grape juice if needed for consistency. If it's too thin, add more yogurt or banana.

This is to taste; if you need some more sweetness, add a bit of honey. Kale has a stronger taste than spinach, so you might want to go heavier on the other ingredients, especially the ones on the sweet end of the spectrum.

As Li'l Girlie would say.... mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, that tastes good!  Her bunny gets a sip too.