Recap: Swim Team

The Swim Team Season just wrapped up, but it officially begun at the tail end of May.

Our swim team is fantastic (this is our second year). The Head Coach Eric stresses improvement and sportsmanship/team spirit over anything else. He has Assistant Coaches (five of them, either high school or college age) who are wonderful, and a few Junior Coaches who are middle school age (more like helpers; this is a little odd, b/c E is the same age, but it's fine.) Practices while school is in session are in the evenings (we typically don't start practicing until school is over, it's too hard to fit in for us) and once summer starts, it's 8 am every weekday except Thursdays.

Elena and Vivian practice at the same time (for now). Viv practices with her age/skill group (mid/fast 8 year olds), and Elena practices with the inexperienced 8-and-unders. E would like to practice with her own age group, but she would absolutely clog up the lane (and could possibly get hurt) because every other swimmer in the crowded pool (all lanes) is 4x faster than she swims, and has more endurance. Elena knows this, and has a pretty good attitude about it. She acknowledges that she is well-challenged practicing with the youngest swimmers, and she has the opportunity to get more individual instruction time. It's hard on me sometimes b/c E isn't as independent without her shoes and braces, but honestly, she's really improved on her poolside mobility. For practice, she wears her water shoes (I like this type) and she can walk well with crutches and can take steps (while wet or dry) without. She enters the pool by the steps (with rail) and takes off her water shoes (leaves them there) and gets in to swim. Reverse on the way out. If she's cold, she needs assistance--but that's typically only at the beginning of the swim season. And, while she doesn't do it at practice, she can now jump in the pool safely from the side edge (one hand on a rail or ladder)!

Elena used to swim only two events; freestyle and backstroke. Her backstroke is seriously slow, and she doesn't love it. Her freestyle has really improved! She is stronger now, and can kick (it's inefficient for propulsion, but can keep her from sinking) and can take breaths on either side during her stroke. She used to curl her head around while pulling hard and fast--imagine her making a ) or ( with her body at every stroke--which ended up wasting a lot of energy, but now she is much straighter in the water. Her goal was to get her 50 free under 2 minutes (her home pool is a yard pool, so that's our reference measurement). She also wanted to get a legal breaststroke, which I thought might be hard if her feet "flip in" (she doesn't have great ankle strength/awareness to remedy this) but her feet/spasticity happen to work with breaststroke--so this goal was in reach.



Meets are on Wednesday nights, and the kids swim 2-4 events (Vivian usually swims more events b/c she swims on a relay team). I am allowed by her lane with the timers, as Elena can't get out on the side of the pool without a ladder (it's hard, but I pull her up under her arms so she is sitting on the edge of the pool. She then swings her legs out, and I help her stand and walk away). Everyone is supportive, and cheering, and congratulating each other on their swims. It's wonderful.

We were gone for 2 weeks on summer vacation, but this year we were in town for Champs. It's where all the teams in the league (all 3 divisions, so there are 18 teams) compete. Vivian dove for the first time (off the block, which is pretty scary for her) and Elena reached both of her goals, with her 50-yd conversion time of 1:58 and the best 50m breaststroke of her life!! Vivian's freestyle relay won a fancy ribbon! Elena also won a special award for Perseverance, which is new this year. Amid all the 18 teams, she won for outstanding achievement. It was awesome!

Summertime at the pool, with some independence

It was a gorgeous day today, so we all went to the pool! I brought a camera this time, to try to capture some of Elena's progress at the water's edge.

She can get into the pool by herself! Another Goal reached!



When it comes to getting out of the pool, though, Elena is very hesistant to take the last step onto the deck (and off the handrail). That's pretty understandable, given the lack of support, a cold, shivering body, stepping up, and hard concrete. But I'm sure we'll get there.

I called early in the summer about swim lessons. Ideally, I'd love Elena to take group lessons, b/c she loves peers and learns well from other kids as an example. Unfortunately, there are very few instructors here that are comfortable with E in their group class, as she is very unsafe around the pool (meaning, little confidence she can ambulate to the edge, stop, sit, etc) and they don't typically allow floatation devices during lessons (of course). I was a little disappointed, but not offended. This summer we're going to focus on fun, friends, and familiarity with the pool, and I'm going to look into private lessons at the indoor warm water pool later in the year.

Ambitious Summer: Here we go

Our "Ambitious Summer" plan involves a lot of things--therapy, more independence, activity, social interaction, and one huge one--FREE WEEKENDS, to do family time, or travel, or NOTHING. This is a big deal, b/c up until now, Elena's only free day was Sunday, and that was mainly spent getting ready for the school week.

E still has therapy 4x/week (2x Feldenkrais, 1x PT, 1x Hippotherapy). We try to make it to the neighborhood pool 1x week (typically with friends), and E has library time and community time (local happenings, like the Whole Foods Kids Club or library concerts/shows) and park playtime. We have our Fantastic Nanny Annette, as well as our facilitator S, and another helping hand or two (more on that later) to get the kids out and about and crazy fun.

Last weekend was Father's Day: Elena's present was to make dinner. I was going to do a separate post about it, but I forgot, so I'm just going to post a few pics here.

Taking the Order at "Elena's Cafe" (menu was included)


Chef at Work (she did the most of the cutting, spreading, and all the assembly)





We tried to let her carry the tray, but E's not quite up to that task yet, so she got some delivery help from Viv and I.

Dinner Smooches for the Best Dad!


Thursday we went to the pool (Dinner at the Pool night). Both girls were so excited about the pool! I tried to see if Elena could get in the pool by herself. I strategically placed two deck chairs as hand holds, and with me close by, she walked from our table to the rail, and holding on with both hands, she went down the steps into the pool BY HERSELF! She swam a ton (she looked tired!) in her swim vest. When it was time to get out, she was unsuccessful getting out by herself. She needed assistance due to fatigue, weight of the water, shivering from being cold, or any combination of those and she exited holding my hand to a chair (and warm towel) right by the pool. A+!

This weekend we had friends over for dinner and movie (Finding Nemo), and Saturday we went to the Splayground with another friend--and saw TONS of other people there! The Splayground had lots of kids--but with the Beach Walker, E had a great time. The other kids were curious, the other parents loved it and asked questions, and everyone had a great time.

(I will have to raise (raze?) the Beach Walker, as it needs to be a little taller. I'm working a new version in my head--one that comes apart in two pieces, to both better fit in the car and to be easier to "size up". Hopefully that will be done by the end of the summer.)

Sunday we went for a bike ride in our neighborhood (HILLS EVERYWHERE) in E's Pink Cruiser trike. I don't have any pictures, b/c downhill it was me running after her (and slowing her down the hills by holding the seat back), and pushing her uphill (ONLY if she was also pedaling--no free rides here!). We went to feed the geese--both kids loved it, and it was a nice short ride before it got too hot. My major observations are that Elena can really engage that trike--even on the hills, although she's not strong enough to do them herself right now. I also taught her how to operate the hand brake. The tension on it is very high, and her little hand can just barely span the handlebar and the brake, nevermind having the strength to actually squeeze it. She did do it once, but at the expense of losing control of the bike (Mom at the ready, so no worries). (I do have to work out a different pedal arrangement (same shown in the link)--this one is cumbersome and she needs more support on the right side.) E was VERY proud of herself--and, more importantly for me, this trip didn't involve packing bikes in a car. We'll be doing this a lot this summer, I think. I'm also contemplating this kind of a arrangement...

Water water everywhere!

Elena LOVES water. Our gym has a heated non-chlorinated pool, which is our favorite. We also like going to the neighborhood pool in the summer, but that has a whole host of other issues: moving around with bare feet, spasticity in cold water, not keeping up with peers, inability to jump into the large pool from the side, foot/shin/knee scrapes from the baby pool, to name a few. Still, we love it.

I took E to the heated pool yesterday; I wanted to post some observations here, in the hopes that you might have some helpful comments and to see how much she improves with time.

1. E's righting reflex in water is poor. Meaning, if you hold her by her hips/thighs, and she is in the water belly-down, she can accidentally (or intentionally) turn on her side and she doesn't know how to get her head back up out of the water. Obviously I am there to help her, but other kids will twist their bodies to keep their head upright. Elena does not have a problem with head control, in general. Her core is weak, true. I am hoping with instruction and more water exposure this improves. I do not have her wear a life vest/jacket in the pool, b/c even with it on, there is no guarantee that her head/face will be upright.

2. If Elena is sitting on the side of the pool edge (feet dangling in the water), if I ask her to come to me, she basically "stands up" on her toes--meaning when she comes off the side of the pool, if I am not SUPER CLOSE to catch her, her body falls into the water in a line just shy of the edge. This is begging for a head injury as she enters the water, especially in a pool with a "lipped edge". I am trying to get her to reach out, forward, into the pool, so her belly hits the water instead of just sinking like an iron bat lengthwise. This made more sense to her when I put her on the edge, sitting on her knees and asked her to reach for me. I also pull her arms forward with one hand, while holding her legs to the ground to show her what it should feel like to reach forward. She says she understands but isn't able to do it alone.

3. Elena is not afraid to put her face in the water. She enjoys blowing bubbles.

4. She is not afraid to be on her back in the water, if she feel secure with the person with her. Water in her ears on her back feels weird and she stiffens up, but can relax on command.

5. If I ask her to kick her feet, her motion is as if she was crawling on the floor--bending the knees and moving from the hip. She does not kick "below the knee". We haven't really worked on this much yet.

6. She has the motion of doggie paddle with her arms (and legs, if you count the crawling motion) but her fingers are always open. She'll have a hard time swimming if she doesn't learn to keep her fingers together, like a "fin".

7. She can reach ahead of her well with both hands, together or individually.

In her typical fashion, when startled, excited, cold, or frustrated, her instinct is to become like a stiff board with pointy toes. I do have faith that she will be able to swim one day, in a pool...the added dangers of the ocean waves has me concerned, but I'll worry about that once she's an independent swimmer.

We will be going to the beach in late June...anyone have ideas for moving in sand? I really don't want to ruin her loftstrands. We do have sandals...and there's always holding hands. If anyone has a suggestion as to how to help E move upright, on her own, in sand, PLEASE comment or email me cpmom2009 AT yahoo DOT com

Pool's open

Well, the pool opened this weekend and E can't wait to get wet! In the past, the baby pool has been a real drag for us parents...we had to be there b/c she couldn't balance in the pool when sitting, and the pool was too slick for her when she was standing. Not to mention the fact that lots of spasticity and really cold water does not make it easy for E to move in the pool. It was very labor intensive, and it was very emotionally difficult, as the environment really showed how different Elena was from the other neighborhood kids.

Well, things are different now, thank goodness!

SDR has really decreased E's spasticity--granted, she still has tightness, but it's so much less now, she can actually put both heels close to the ground even in cold water. She needs to be reminded to "squish her feet" often. Since E doesn't dorsiflex well, she scrapes the tops of her feet pretty badly. I bought some 'water socks'--some breathable sock with a tread bottom--which protected her feet well (but they won't last long).

Elena moves differently than other kids, her tone is obvious--but she can move now, I don't have to be in the baby pool every waking moment. She can cruise along the edge, in either direction, and smush her heels down relatively well. She can operate a water pistol while sitting on the edge of the pool (she used to really straighten her legs when concentrating with her hands). She didn't get her whole body in the water (it was frigid) but in the bathtub, she can alternatively kick her legs from the knee down (but it's labored and slow).

We'll see what kind of pool/swimming progress we can make this year...I have the feeling we'll be spending lots of time there.