Beach Fun!

Up until recently, this is what Christopher thought of the beach:

You can almost hear him asking, "You want me to play in THIS?!?" Notice his Italian blood coming out in the way he expresses it, too! ;)

Seriously, he has hated water & the beach since he was very little. I couldn't even begin to think about taking pictures of him playing in the water - because he would scream if you put him anywere NEAR the water! I had visions of all these Mommy & Me swimming lessons...but, after him screaming through all six weeks of the first one we signed up for, we didn't sign up for any more!

But, I'm very glad to say that has all changed! We saw a bit of a change last summer as he discovered it wasn't all that bad (since I blogged about that last summer, I won't bore you now...just go back and read it!). Then right after he turned five, he surprised David and me by announcing that he wanted to take swimming lessons, "RIGHT NOW!" This is in the works...but the next class doesn't start until April or May. But Friday, Chrisopher FULLY embrased his Florida Boy status! :)

My Beautiful Loser group met at the beach to workout last Friday & I arranged with Grandma Jansen (who watches Christopher on Fridays while I workout) to bring Christopher to the beach after our workout time ended. This was the first time I've attempted a beach trip with him in quite awhile...and I'm pleased to say, we'll be scheduling more as time goes on!

While I was walking along the beach earlier, we'd seen some sea animals...so I couldn't resist showing Christopher. I wish I could have gotten video of the view, but I think this is just as good:

He was really excited to see the dolphins...and they were fairly close to shore...which made for easy viewing! I'd also seen a manatee earlier that day, but there didn't seem to be any more around by the time Christopher arrived. That's ok...he was just excited to see the dolphin! And I just love his response when I asked him what the dolphin was doing...it was like, "Duh, Mom!" ;)

We also built (or tried to build) a sand castle. We'll have to bring more tools along with us when we come next time. All we had was a couple of scoops and a sifter. We never had much need for beach toys before - so these were some he played with in his tub. Guess some official beach toys are in order now! :)

Christopher also wrote his name in the sand and watched the water wash it away. He thought this was so much fun, he did it several times! One time, he wrote it too far away from the surf & was disappointed when the water didn't come quite that high right away. But, the most amazing part for me was how much he enjoyed the waves:

He fully embraced the water rushing over his feet...even calling to the waves to come get him! The longer we stayed, the more brave he got! Sitting down and letting the waves lap around him...

and leaning into the waves as they came up & getting fully soaked...
and even jumping in the waves...

I was so excited about his new-found love of the beach that I snapped over a hundred pictures! Christopher must have felt like the newest celebrity on the beach...he's certainly got his celebrity "no more pictures" pose down! :)