I am writing this entry because I have safety on my mind.  A local child drowned this past Labor day.  He was a student at the school I taught at.  It is the second child in this calendar year that has been lost to drowning at my former school.  It scares me to think about the number of children and adults who cannot swim or at least rescue themselves in a water environment.  It is very important that parents teach their children to swim or how to rescue themselves in South Florida.  There is water everywhere!  The following is an account of our experience with swim lessons.  We have experience with two drastically different programs.

United States Swim Academy

     When my son was four months old we started taking him to a free class in Coral Springs.  It was held at a local swim school which had an indoor pool.  It was a nice experience.  I got in the pool with him, we sang songs, got them used to the water, and had fun.  We were even featured in their Water Smart Baby Commercial.  At 5 months old, the freebies stopped.  I also went back to work which made it more challenging to get to the classes.  We decided to take a swim break.

     This past January we decided to re-enroll him in the program because he was nearing one year old.  With him running around we were afraid that he could possibly run in to a pool, lake, or canal.  So in late January we started going to the same swim school we had been to in the summer.  The cost was $99 a month, classes were once a week, and he progressed to Level 2 after two months.  So we paid our dues and went week after week.  My son would cry every time I put him on his back. He would cry when he did the monkey crawl on the wall.  The only time he wouldn't cry was when I was holding him.  June came around, I took a leave from my job and I was home with him every day.  I had more time to think and realized that my son wasn't progressing at the pace we had hoped.  $600 later and his only real skill was holding on to the wall of the pool.  He was unable to float, unable to swim, and unable to much of anything for himself in the water.  We stopped going to the classes at the end of June.  I then set out on a search for one on one lessons instead of group/ mommy and me lessons.

Itty Bitty Swimmers
ISR with Liz Goldring

     I had heard about ISR for a while.  I thought that it wasn't for us.  It sounded very regimented, very demanding, and very expensive.  In the middle of this past summer I decided to go watch an ISR lesson at the local YMCA.  I watched three lessons that day.  I never once saw anything objectionable.  ISR seems to have a reputation for being harsh.  We found nothing of the sort happening during the lessons.  So I did some research on it.  It boiled down to most kids would be able to self-rescue themselves after about six weeks of lessons.  Now six weeks of lessons meant every day, for five days a week.  Each lesson is about ten minutes in length, so it isn't overwhelming for the child.  I thought that driving to the pool every day for six weeks would get annoying, I didn't mind it.  After a week and a half my son stopped whining during lessons.  Personally, I think he was whining because he was with someone he didn't know.  Once he became comfortable with Liz he began running to the side of the pool and smiling at her before lessons.  My son graduated from ISR this past Friday.  $730 later, my son swims, floats, and best of all, smiles!
Here is the summary of how it works.  

• BUDS.  Each day you fill out a form tracking your child's bowel movements, urination, diet, and sleep.  No eating before class and certain foods are recommended to be avoided on lesson days.
• Lessons every week day for 10 minutes on average.
• Lessons for approx. 6 weeks.
• During the final week your child will practice their skills wearing summer clothes and winter clothes.
• The opportunity to get in the water with your child so the instructor can show you the best ways to work with your child after lessons have been completed.  As you can see in the video below I was able to work with Connor :)

     I'm going to go over some tips and tricks for cruising with a baby or toddler.  So far we've taken my son on three cruises, yes maybe it sounds excessive but I am in the business and it is our preferred way to travel.  He has been on a 7-day Carnival Glory cruise at 10 months old, 3-day Royal Caribbean Enchantment cruise at 14 months, and a 6-day Carnival Breeze cruise at 17 months old.  We have another cruise coming up when he is 19-months and again at 20-months, both will be on Royal Caribbean Brilliance and Liberty respectively.  Each trip was a little different due to his age and facilities on the ship!  I mentioned the cruise lines above because they differed vastly in our experience and I will include that information below.  This post will be broken in to sections to make it easier to figure out what you might want to do on your cruise!

Bedtime
     Depending on your child's sleep habits this could be easy or this could be challenging!  All cruise lines will provide a crib (Carnival) or Pack n Play (Royal Caribbean).  Carnival will not set it up until you ask for it and it won't be delivered until the steward makes up your room on the first evening.  This proved to be a challenge for us because our son needed an afternoon nap.  He didn't get his afternoon nap on this most recent cruise because the crib came after dinner.  Not a fun afternoon!  On Royal Caribbean it was already set up for us in the cabin when we walked in!  On the first cruise we brought thin blankets to cover the pack n play that we brought with us, it didn't work.  My son pulled them down and played peek a boo!  The second cruise (my mom, son, and myself) we tried something new.  Magnetic hooks and a dark colored shower curtain.  It worked great!  So well, that we did the same on the third cruise.  Click on the photos below to enlarge them.

Bathtime
     This is an easy one, although it seems tricky.  Most cruise lines offer showers-only unless you're sailing in a suite.  However, there are regular staterooms on Carnival and Disney that offer something called a split-bath.  Essentially there are two bathrooms.  One is a traditional cruise ship bathroom, the other has a tub/shower combo and an additional sink.  If you score one of these cabins, you're in luck and you have a very knowledgeable travel agent ;).  We had one on our most recent cruise on the Breeze.  I LOVED it!  I brought scrubbing bubbles and cleaned the tub down prior to using it.  My son loved splashing around in the full-blown tub!
     Now you may not have the opportunity to score a tub.  That's perfectly okay!  I recommend bringing an inflatable bathtub.  We have a nice big Sesame Street one and a Summer Infant collapsible that does not need inflating.  Bringing one of these can also serve as a "pool" out on deck for your little one since non-potty trained kids are not allowed in pools or splash zones.

Pooltime
There are only a handful of ships that allow diapered children in the splash zones (Disney and Royal Caribbean).  No diapers are allowed in cruise pools.  So if you have a child who will sit still (not mine) you can use that portable bathtub as a poolside pool.  We were able to do so when my son was 10-months because we wasn't yet walking.  It was a wonderful replacement activity.

Dining
     We had a vastly different experience on the two lines when it came to dining with a little one.  Royal Caribbean wait staff was practically stumbling over each other to ensure dinner went smoothly with our son.  They had fruit ready at the table each night for him to nibble on.  This was a fabulous gesture because it occupied his time and we were able to enjoy our dinner.  On Carnival we had to order the fruit upon arrival, so the first few minutes were a challenge to get him to sit there.  If you're child will play with small toys, bring those to dinner.  I would also recommend doing My Time dining or requesting, in advance, to sit at a table on your own as to not get held up by other people.  

Strolling
Strollers onboard.  I HIGHLY recommend getting an umbrella style strollers.  I've seen it three times now with people struggling to use their full-sized strollers on cruise ships.  It's just not going to happen!  We used a First Years Ignite on the very first cruise.  It was a good inexpensive, lightweight umbrella stroller that fit perfectly in a stateroom.  A couple months later we upgraded to the Chicco Liteway because we travel often and I wanted one that reclines for my son.  Here's how they fit in tight spaces:

Kids Clubs
     Each line varies with their kids club offerings.  I urge you to check out my past entry on my business page all about the programs offered by each line HERE.  For the sake of making this shorter I will compare Carnival and Royal Caribbean due to my experience with them.

Royal Caribbean.  Adventure Ocean (complimentary) begins at 3 years old, but Royal Babies and Tots Nursery ($6 an hour) begins at 6 months :)  My son went to the nursery twice on our Enchantment cruise.  Once during the day and one evening.  He did great.  There were 3 babies/tots and 2 adults in the room.  They were great with my son.  They put him to sleep on a cot so he wouldn't be up past his bed time.  We also went to the open play hours.  There were a lot more things for my active toddler to play on in RB&T compared to Carnival's open play.  On some ships they issue a beeper to stay in contact, other ships have WAVE phones available to rent for the duration of the cruise, both at no charge.

In late October I will do a write-up on flying with babies & toddlers.  So check back for more.

     Well, we're back from our first official cruise, just the three of us.  Yes, we cruised back in December but we had my mom there to help us.  I also cruised with my son and mom back in May as well.  This was our first official cruise as just mommy, daddy, and kiddo!  I am happy to report that we survived the experience!! (It's a good thing because we have three cruises pending in the next 14 months.)  

     This week I will highlight some tips and tricks for traveling with a baby and/or toddler on a cruise ship.  Look out for those posts in the coming days.  I will also be doing a write up on my travel blog about the actual cruise ship experience with Carnival, onboard the Breeze, with a very active toddler!  Here are a few highlights of our trip below.

A couple weeks ago we got rid of our guest bed by donating it to a young couple who will be moving in together next year when they get married!  We don't live in a huge house, so taking that bed out of our guest room really opened that room up and gave us options.  I decided to make the room in to a playroom for my son.  I figured that I would need a good space to play and learn with him.  I realize this is not an option for everyone.  Once we have another child, this room will probably become my son's room to make room for a baby.  Here's what I did:

I made a list of South Florida field trips for toddlers.  They can be found on the options at the top of the blog.  I asked around on a mom's group on Facebook for some ideas of places for a 15 month old to have some fun and learn a little something.

I've gotten a lot of  "Why didn't you include xyz?"  Well let me explain.  I want these field trips to be educational.  I do not want to list places like Check E Cheese (which by the way grosses me out completely and I hope my son never has to attend a birthday party there!)  I want these to be places that children can learn and experience.  The only exception I made was for splash pads and mini-water parks.  Children learn a great deal about their motor skills in those environments.  

Feel free to check out the link up top.  If you have recommendations, please feel free to leave them for me.  I'd be happy to add or update the listings.

I will be slowly, attempting to, visit each one over the next year or two.  So as I visit one I will include more feedback as well as photos of the place so that you can get a better idea of what they offer!

Just this past weekend we went to Coconut Cove in West Boca (see photos below).  Tomorrow I am visiting Bees Knees.

For the people out there who think I am crazy for writing "lesson plans" for my 15 month old, I promise you I am not.  First of all, they aren't lesson plans like I wrote for my job.  That would be insane!  These are simple.  I bought an inexpensive Lesson Plan book from the local teacher store.  

     I created my own categories: Books (at least 2 per day), Field Trip (not daily, a couple per week), Letters, Numbers, Motor Skills, Art/Music, and Misc.  I felt like these were the most natural things to do with a young toddler.  I don't include details, just a few words to remind myself what the topic is for that day.  Check out the photos below.  These are not yet completed, but they will give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

So what's it like to be a stay at home mom after two days?

     Well, so far I've sliced open my finger while making dinner (it still hurts), discovered that my son prefers the shopping carts at Publix over all other stores (Target, take note please), and made a splash park in my yard that scared my son (he only went in with me)! Yup, it's going great so far!

     In all seriousness though, it's been nice to be at home with him.  I can already see that I am going to have to work on discipline with him in the day.  He laughs when he does something he isn't supposed to, like standing on his playroom table!

     So I got this idea one day when we had a large box left over from a family gathering.  Connor kept climbing inside the lid of the box and just hanging out there.  I kept thinking that this box could have some sort of purpose.  This little nagging thought wouldn't let me throw it away.  

     A couple of weeks later he began grabbing pencils, pens, markers, etc.  So I thought "Hey, this box would be a great place to contain him so he could color without getting it all over the furniture and walls."  Regular crayons are very hard for a 14 month old to use so I ordered Jumbo Crayons on Amazon that day, and thanks to Prime got them two days later ;) 

     It took a few tries to teach him that he needs to stay inside the box but can color anywhere in that box.  Sometimes we put paper down in the box to teach him to color on the paper.  If he scribbles off the edge it's no big deal because it's his coloring box!

     Below are some pictures of the box and crayons.  I also have a picture that shows the size difference between the Jumbo Crayola and standard Crayola crayon.  Now Connor is obsessed with coloring and scribbles.  If he finds a pencil, pen, crayon, etc he grabs it, runs to his box, and wants to color.

*Feel free to click on the photos to enlarge them.

Well, I've been off from work for two whole days and I'm already having trouble letting go of being a teacher.  I spent yesterday re-boxing all of the items you see in the photo to the left!  This was about 1/3 of the items I brought home from my classroom that I have collected over the last 9.5 years.  We got rid of our guest bed mattress and I am turning our guest room in to a play/ learning space.  I also began painting an old bookshelf my grandfather built for me when I was little.  I had it in my classroom for years, but since it's now home I though I'd fix it up a bit and make it nice for my son.  Here are before and after pics!

So, the letting go part...  Well I bought a lesson plan book and have begun to create lesson plans for my son.  Yes, I know he is only 15 months, but he's been in daycare for the past 10+ months and I don't want him to backslide.  My plans are rather simple, I am making mini-themes.  If we read about Butterflies on Monday we'll also trace the letter B, color with a blue crayon, practice learning/saying B words, etc.  I plan to tie everything in together so it's more natural.  I'm not going to make him sit at a desk and do all this, it will be in his natural environment.  Maybe in the afternoon we'll go over to Butterfly World!

Okay, so I will admit it, I am a control freak.  Just a little though.  I don't want to drive my son nuts.  

Let's see how this journey goes!