I panicked. Completely panicked. This may be the last warm week. We may not be able to go to the beach in t-shirts again for a long time and by then, Greta will be walking and a whole 'nother baby. Which of course will be super fun, but it just won't be the same. Especially if she copies her sister and is awful at letting me take photos of her. And Holly, she'll be bigger and taller and more grown up and there will be less baby fat on her bones. So I panicked and packed up the girls and headed for the beach. And we'll do it again later this week because you just never know. And then I was that Mom at the beach. No, not the one with the baby belly flub in a string bikini sporting a really bad fake tan. I was the Mom who was totally camera crazy because if I could've frozen time, I would've. We had such a lovely time. The highlight was getting Holly in the water. She's been afraid of it even since the ocean nearly sucked her in. But, yesterday, I had enough. My daughter was going to love the ocean no matter what. I scooped that little girl up and held her and let the water wash over my feet and I talked about it with her. It was the bubbles that sold her. After that, we spent a good long while, holding hands running around in the waves, screaming and laughing. If I could've frozen time... I was perfectly happy playing with Holly in the ocean and holding Greta on my hip. Except that my arm hurt from holding Greta on my hip. The whole way home, Holly talked about the bubbles. And it was a long drive home because I got turned around more than once and was stubborn and wouldn't take out the GPS.
Greta became a real baby and ate sand for the first time. She loved picking it up and letting it fall out of her hand and then naturally, she wanted to know how it would taste. So into her mouth it went. And I laughed and scolded half-heartedly until I knew that it really couldn't continue and I moved her out of reach of the sand. And then I noticed Holly taste the sand a couple times because she obviously wanted to know what all the fuss was about. I'll be laughing about that for the rest of my life.
For me, there's something so magical about the beach and the ocean. I always feel happy and content when I'm there. And that's why I drive a long ways and haul my two young children to the beach all by myself. It's absolutely worth it.
