Today's Swim Class

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that Peyton has become quite a little fish in the pool. He's been taking classes at the Peninsula Swim School since he was 10 months old. We started in the baby-parent class and moved to private swim classes when he was about 2-1/2.

I knew that getting him in the water at an early age would be good and, maybe, he would some day be comfortable enough in the water to swim without fear. It is well known that some autistic children are somehow drawn to water, so swim lessons are imperative to keep them safe.

Each week, I've watched him learn skills and struggle with some sensory issues, but he loves the water. His swim form is interesting, so there's no expectation for him to become the next Michael Phelps.

Something happened when Peyton turned four in May. I don't exactly know what, but his swimming has really taken off!

At the beginning of the summer, Peyton refused to float on his back. I guess the sensation of the water lapping against his ears bothered him (remember those sensory issues I mentioned?). He also really didn't like to wear goggles in the pool, though he was constantly rubbing his eyes after being under water. In June, his teacher tried to get him to wear goggles and Peyton agreed. I warned the teacher that they may not stay on very long, but they did! We bought a pair and he's been wearing them ever since!

His teachers have been working on getting him to float on his back. It's extremely important to be able to float on your back so that you can breath and stay safe while swimming. I just wasn't sure if it would ever "click" with Peyton that this was necessary, but he's been working on it and has been able to float for several seconds at a time. But today, his teacher had him work on floating for longer without being held. When it got to 15 seconds, I immediately started recording:

 

 They've also been working on swimming across the pool, stopping midway to take breaths. He did great today:

In the past, Peyton wanted to be held when swimming the length of the pool. Or he would cut it into smaller sections and swim into the teacher's arms every few feet. But, today, I don't know what exactly clicked in his head, but THIS happened:

You can imagine how ecstatic I'm feeling today. I just had to share. :-)

A Brief Update

Well, another year has passed, and I've had to take another break from blogging. 2012-2013 have had their share of ups and downs for us, but I won't go into much detail as we'd be here for a while. But, I will give you an update on Peyton.

Let's see, when last I wrote, Peyton was turning 3 and was in Early Intervention, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and ABA - sound familiar? Peyton turned 3 and we enrolled him in an inclusive preschool in Palo Alto, Milestones Preschool which is part of the Abilities United non-profit agency which helps people with physical, neurological and developmental delays and disabilities from birth to adulthood. It's an amazing organization and I'm so happy that we chose to send Peyton to their preschool.

Peyton has shown tremendous progress over the past year! He's made many friends and loves to play with other kids, he's become extremely social! And his language has just exploded! We can hold conversations! It's amazing! This May, Peyton was ready to move to the Milestones Pre-K program and he has just flourished over the past three months in that class!

Besides Milestones, Peyton also qualified for a twice-weekly social skills group and 30 minutes of speech therapy. He had so much fun in his groups which just helped get him to where he is today. He'll go back in September; I'm just waiting for the letter from the School District letting us know when his services will take place.

And, we also enrolled him in a weekly social skills group through the Abilities United Therapy Clinic. He started out in the group for 3-4 year olds and mastered his goals enough to move up to the 4-5 year old group in May.

We're just thrilled with all the progress Peyton has made over the past year. And are so thankful to all of the providers and teachers and friends!

He also continues to swim every week and was deemed "water safe" two weeks ago! I wasn't sure that he'd ever be able to swim but he can now swim across the pool, taking breaths, and can float on his back! He's my little fish!

This summer, Milestones preschool has decided to take a "trip around the world", each week studying about a different continent and the cultures of the countries. So far, they've learned about the U.S., South America, Europe, China and India, Australia, and are learning about Africa this week. Peyton has been fascinated by geography and can now build the U.S. puzzle and can name and recognize 42 states (New England is grouped into one puzzle piece as well as PA, NJ, DE, MD so those are harder for him to identify). I also found a great map set at Coscto (for under $15!) of a laminated World map and a laminated US map. He loves them! 

AND, he's getting great at spelling and reading!!

So, that's what Peyton has been up to. He loves his room in our new house (we moved in January) and now has the family room all to himself for his train table and toys and books and puzzles and other activities; we've dubbed it PeytonLand.

Thanks for stopping by!

Our Little Fish

Last week's swim lesson was one of my favorites. Peyton is getting more and more confident in the water and just has a ball in the water. Here are a few pictures taken throughout the lesson.

 

 

 

 

 

At this lesson, he was in a very silly mood and wanted to make lots of "bubbles". His teacher, Carrie, was able to work it into a lesson in kicking.

More bubbles!

And then, this happened....

Yes, that's right! Peyton was SWIMMING! All legs, but still, swimming! And, he did it again.

And again!

I immediately sent one of the videos to James and he was sooooo happy! Way to go Peyton!!

Swim Lessons

Peyton has been in swim lessons since he was 8 months old in baby-parent group lessons, but he started private lessons earlier this year. We've been at the Peninsula Swim School in Redwood City for about two years, and are so thankful for the service we've received there. He's had the same teacher, Carrie, since he started and he absolutely loves her! He always gets a big smile on his face when we're at the pool, and is happy to jump in to her arms.

He feels very comfortable with Carrie and being in the water in general. Carrie knows that Peyton is autistic and is so careful with him and has been very happily surprised with how much he's now speaking. She nurtures conversations with him; she's amazing!

He loves going down the slide (yes, he's a daredevil in the water too).

This week, Carrie got him to try diving again. Success!

Peyton always finds a toy that he will play with throughout the lesson. This week, he was overjoyed to find a Dory (Finding Nemo) toy. Carrie used that to her advantage and got him to dive under the water to pick it up. She's a genius!

While he was fishing for Dory, one of the other classes in the pool started swimming the length of the pool which caused lots of splashes and delighted Peyton! Carrie's been having trouble getting him to kick on the kickboard, but after seeing that amazing spectacle, Peyton decided to try again!

And, by the end of the lesson, he was diving under to pick up or touch whatever he could.

I can't say enough how thankful we are to the Peninsula Swim School and especially to Carrie for how wonderful she is with Peyton in the pool.

Outside Fun in the Outer Banks

When the weather cleared up, James took Peyton down to the ocean! I took these pictures from the house and couldn't zoom in any further. Peyton didn't really like the cold water.



Squishing toes in the sand.



James spotted me!



And now Peyton spotted me.



James washed off their feet.



Grandpa Jim decided to spend some time on the beach too!



James let Peyton test the temperature of the water in the pool.



Too cold too!



Our last full day in the Outer Banks, the pool temperature was just perfect so we decided to go swimming!



James had fun playing Blast Off (pushing off from the side of the pool).



Peyton loves Blast Off!



Getting some Daddy love.



Cozy!