At the Beach

Sand! Sea! Sun! Oh how I missed the beach... we used to spent our Sundays at East Coast Beach, skating, running, catching up with friends over long breakfast, swimming, suntanning, from 9am-9pm, basically we are 'Sundays Beach Bums'.

Well, I need to reminisce a little since East Coast Beach is the place where I met and made lots of very good friends, learning how to skate and swim in the open sea, train for marathons and where I met Simon. Yes, I picked him up at the beach. Haha...

The last time we were strolling by the beach was last Father's Day, Chloe was still in the stroller, 9 months old. We are back on the beach with a bag of beach toys and a very excited Chloe, ready to build some castles and palaces.

'Hmm... What should I do first? Dig a hole or sift the sand?'

Chloe's a little worried and reluctant to walk onto the sand when we first got there. She was frowning and shaking her head and I thought she's ready to burst into tears. We take the next step forward with her leading me. Within a few minutes, we are feeling the grainy sand between our toes. She was a little squirmy initially and I took off my sandals to show her it is so fun to sink your whole feet into the sand.

I think she is a little lost as this is a very huge sand pit compared to sand tub in school and with so many tools laying in front of her, she's having a hard time deciding what to use first.

'I need more water for a bigger castle.'

See how comfy and at home she is now on the sand. Digging, pouring and even throwing handful of sand around. I scoop a pail of seawater and what happened next was, she dipped the spade in and rinsed it, then she dipped her whole hand in and tasted it. If I were to give her a spoon, I'm sure she'll be slurping it up. Later on, she was so happy that she poured the pail of water over the body. Bottoms up!

'Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man...'

'I'm not going any nearer.'

All the time while we were digging and building, I was introducing the sea and the waves to her. The pail of seawater was a start to show her that it's just water, just that it's salty and it does not comes from the tap. She finally walked closer to the waves but retreated when the waves came splashing a bit too close to her comfort zone. But still a good start.

'Ooooo... but this looks so fun! Am I missing something?'

She held out her almost empty pail and wanted me to refill it. I pointed to the sea and held out my hand, telling her that we can go together. Surprise, she stood up, held out her hand, took hold of the pail and trod very carefully towards the sea in small steps.

'The waves! They are wetting my feet, so fun.'

See! Not so frightening after all right? She was bouncing and going goo-goo-gah-gah over the waves. I have to hold on to her hand as she was ready to charge towards the sea. That's what happened when she gets over the initial inhibition.

'I'm not going back without having a dip in this huge tub!'

A pair of very happy and hungry beach bums. Time to change and feed the hungry people.