What a busy day. Nice day, but busy nonetheless! We informed the swim school that he is now to go twice a week for the summer and so we filled the proper paperwork out for that. And we went upstairs and found a seat. With Noboru off work today, he got to enjoy the swimming class with us. Here is one of the coaches and she is clapping and cheering Branden on! I really like that about swimming class in Japan. They tell you how to do it. They do want you "spot on" that is true, but they also really praise your efforts and cheer you on every step of the way!
She was making sure his underwater swimming was right. And she made him go back and forth a few times at it. I could see by her gestures she would say "make your arms a bit straighter" or do this or do that. And then she would praise him when he got it right. Meanwhile we looked on. And she knows we look on too. Some parents watch their kids and some don't or can't. They will just drop them off and come back when it's time to pick them up. I think it's personal choice and again whatever works for each family. But, I like to watch, so I can see the progress of his swimming. And that way if the coach has to discuss something with me, I know what she is talking about exactly. Or if he wasn't paying attention, for example I will tell him, pay attention better next time. Or I'll say..."wow you did so extra good today, let's go get that ice-cream" although we get ice cream every time though, ha ha ha. But you know what I mean.
That's Branden in the bright neon green kids Speedo goggles. I like the bright color, so I can pick my kid out of the swimming pool super easily. Boy does that help! Ha ha ha. : )
Noah and his buddies! These are Noah's Friday swim school buddies. Different kids from his Wednesday swim buddies of Noah's. All these kids have an older sibling in the pool. Noah's brother is B, of course. The little boy also has an older brother. And the cute little girl has an older sister in the pool right now. These 3 amigos, if you will, play their butts off every Friday (we swam Friday's last summer)! Next year at this time though, Noah and the little girl will be in swimming class on their own though because they will be 3 year olds next year. However, the little boy has a bit more of a wait. That's okay though they are all still good pals! For what it's worth, I've known that little boy since he was a new born last year. And now he's walking, granted wobbly walking but he is walking just the same. Every time he sees me, he wobbly walks right over to me! : )
For Friday there's about 4 in the same level Branden is in give or take a few. So it's no easy win. They are all at the same exact level. Coach had them race this way. And Branden lost, he was 3rd, you can tell by the glasses. He looked up at the window and we smiled and put up a #1 hand. And we smiled. He smiled back (playfully of course). And then the coach had them race back the opposite way.
And Branden won! Again you can tell by the green goggles. Again it's all for fun. But it helps the kids. With every race for fun, they are getting stronger arms, better upper body strength. Good cardio. Plus the coach cheers everyone on, whether they lose or not!
There was Branden turning around, looking at the coach and she clapped. Plus none of us parents really cares who wins upstairs at all, we are all friends upstairs anyways. But it gets the kids excited so it's okay! : )
Now another technique. he has to lay half face in the water, on his side. She is bending his body to the right position. Giving him the ol' pep talk.
She tells him by her gestures, "scissor feet" move your feet like scissors! Branden does exactly as she says and he has it! We watch from the window.
See the coach extended her arm like that? She is reminding him extend your arm like that!!! And then he did and she clapped for him when he got it right again. She had him do about 4 or 5 reps of these, until he got it exactly right.
And here he was coming back the other way. Scissor feet and all, lol! He has it down pact now! She will test him on this again next Wednesday I am sure. : )
Now the back stroke. She didn't like his lean back position here. LOL.
So, she had him do it properly one more time. Here he is face up against the wall and then he bent his head back yet again and she shook her head, yes! And he went for it!
She told him what he did right. Praised him for it. Told him what he did wrong and she coached him through it. She really is a fantastic coach.
Noah taking a drink from his apple juice and to grab a snack before returning to playing with his friends again. He also got a quick glimpse of B in the pool before returning back to his buddies.
And yet even another bigger girl came to play and what did they do? Well they all thought it would be fun to go check out the tape covering the electrical light socket. But all us parents put a stop to that. And then they quickly lost interest in that and started playing another game. After swim school, and buying the kids each an ice-cream, we went to the grocery store. Why? Well, because there has been talk of a big typhoon coming to Japan. Now, I went to the grocery store a few days ago and got a weeks worth of food already and I am well stocked up. But with the constant talk of a typhoon. Some say it's going to be really bad. That it will come to Chiba on Saturday and now there's talk of a delay of it coming on Sunday. In either case, I ran to the store with the kids and hubby in tow to get an extra loaf of bread, English muffins, carton of milk, a box of Kirin straight tea, 2 apple juices, 1 orange juice, 2 bottles of Qoo Sumomo momo, a bottle of water, extra batteries for our flash light, 2 candles just in case of power failure. Batteries for the small Spongebob stereo, so we could at least have music if we lost power. Fresh fruit, we bought a quarter of a watermelon, grapes, stuff for salad, bananas, and even though we have about a weeks worth of food to begin with like I said, we bought these few extras just in case, all heck, really does hit the fan with regards to this typhoon. Though I am crossing my fingers it will lose it's strength like the lady at CNN said it would. Oh yeah and Noboru bought a big thing of charcoal, because he says if we lose power, we can always cook food on the grill outside, rain or not. LOL. So we are set, I guess/hopefully. Pics we saw on TV, of what happened to like Okinawa scared us because they really got hit hard with it. I hope we don't get hit too hard. Oh man! : )
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