First trip to the beach this year
Jack was totally adorable at the beach yesterday morning, but he is still not ready to actually go in the ocean. When we stepped onto the sand from the parking lot and he could see and hear the waves (when I stepped onto the sand – I was holding him), he immediately said, “No.” He let me put him down so I could lay out the mat, and then he took to the sand right away (which surprised me a little).
He seemed perfectly content to play right there, and I certainly wasn’t going to push the water thing, not on our first trip to the ocean since September.
Then Emily, Sean, Graham, and McKenna arrived, and guess who wanted to see what everyone else was doing in the water? Turns out peer pressure DOES work. A little.
Once he saw the others playing in the waves, he decided it was okay to at least investigate this craziness going on where the beach ended. We walked into the very edge of the surf (Jack was wearing water shoes). The water was FREEZING, and it was still foggy and pretty chilly out, but that didn’t seem to bother him. A few baby waves got him in the knees, and after about a minute, he’d had enough. “Hold up, this isn’t the bathtub. Up-up! Up-up!” I squatted down to his level for a little bit, but that wasn’t safe enough for him, so up he went. The ocean is SO much more enjoyable from four feet off the ground.
And that was pretty much that. Voluntarily walking into the surf is a HUGE step after last summer’s timidness and this past winter’s reluctance to swim in the pool. We’ll have to see what happens the next few times.