Jarone and David have been filling in the gaps and pushing him to swim on his own. About 2 weeks ago we bought Ilan a nose-piece as he was having a very difficult time breathing while swimming and swallowing a lot of water. As soon as he put on the nosepiece, Ilan pushed his brothers aside and began to swim all by himself!
So today he topped that too. Of course he first put on his nose-piece, then began swimming across the pool underwater holding his breath till he made it to the other side of the pool, about 15-18m!! Well, he popped his head out of the water, after the first time he swam across the pool underwater, and began screeching in delight at this accomplishment.
After he quieted down we handed him a pretend microphone and asked him the old saying, "Ilan, you have just successfully completed swimming underwater across the entire length of the pool for the first time - when do you plan on going to Disneyland?"
He emphatically shook his head with an annoyed, yet smiling, face and looked at us like we had just fallen off the moon, then responded, " No ----- Israel!!!!".
Besides swimming, he is also walking more and more confidently without any assistance, pronouncing his words a lot better, getting some very challenging physical training by family, drinking a lot more water (rather than mango juice all the time!), guitar lessons volunteered by a very talented young man (Ilan's age!), went to the beach with the family for the 1st time in 3 years and got himself soaked by waves, and many other exciting accomplishments and events.
Hope the summer has been fun for you, and the rest of summer is even better. Thanks for reading - be well and best of luck in the upcoming academic year.
