Our Sea Otter

Today was a great day at the pool.  Bode has been trying so hard to earn his last sticker and graduate from being a Sea Monkey to a Sea Otter.  Here are some pictures and movies documenting this momentous achievement.  First, here's a shot of Bode getting pumped up for the lesson.

He was with Brian today--he hadn't had Brian as an instructor in awhile.  This turned out to be a good thing, as Brian was able to find some ways to help Bode accomplish the ever elusive bubble-down and float back up starfish.  This is when he goes underwater, kicks back up to the surface and floats on his back in the starfish position.  For awhile, Bode could not master the starfish, and he had difficulty finding his buoyancy.  The last couple lessons, Bode mastered this and was able to float on his own.  The bubble-down was causing problems, because Bode wouldn't keep his head back and he wouldn't kick properly.  Here is an example of Bode doing a poor bubble-down.

Brian decided to put the shark vest on Bode.  This gives him some added buoyancy.  He also wanted Bode to jump in from the side rather than do a bubble-down from inside the pool.  This might seem harder, but Brian explained jumping in from the side sometimes helps the "panic" response i.e. when they hit the water, the kids are startled and will instinctively kick.  Sounds plausible to me.  Here is a picture of Bode with the vest--note the fin on the back.

Here was his first attempt, which wasn't a very good one.  You can hear us on tape and also Brian telling Bode his hands were out of the water.  It's very hard for the kids to float without their hands.

Brian made Bode do quite a few of these.  This one is a great example of a good job.

After mastering the technique, Bode had to remove the vest and do the same thing.  This is a video of two tries--he does pretty good on these.

After getting a good feel for the technique, Bode then did some bubble-downs starting in the pool.  Obviously Ashley and I were very excited.

After all the hard work, it was time for some play.

We had a blizzard in Colorado today.  Well, the forecast was for a blizzard, but we hardly had any accumulation.  Lots of blowing snow, and it was very cold.  Fortunately, the forecast for the week is for highs in the 60s, so I am ready for some great running weather.  Pleasant week to all.