"See ocean water"

This past weekend, we went to the beach to escape from our hot weather. Maya has been to the beach numerous times, but never had any interest in going into the ocean. That was, until this last time..

We were on our way! Mommy and daddy were so excited to go to the ocean as a family for the first time. When Maya stepped onto the sand, she said, "Maya walk on hot sand." (The sand was warm, but not hot) When I asked if she wanted her shoes on, she said, "no momma, Maya go see ocean water."

Now walking in the wet sand. YIPEE!! When Maya's feet touched this sand, she said, "Maya walk in cold sand." She took only a few minutes to get used to the wet sand and then she took off running.

When the ocean water was in sight, Maya slowed down. She became very distracted by all the boogie boards in the water and people riding sand bikes.

When we finally reached the ocean, we rolled up her shorts and that's when she had second thoughts. Daddy tried to talk to her about the water and instantly she didn't want anything to do with it. We didn't push it, we stood for a short while and just watched her. She was very interested in the bubbly foam and the small puddles of water.

When the water reseeded we saw her starting to walk towards the ocean. When she saw a small puddle of water, she said, "Maya step in puddle."

She did great, until we said, "Maya come back, the ocean water is coming in."

That was the end of the ocean water! Maya frantically said a couple of times, "Dadda, Maya up!" When Maya was safely in daddy's arms, she said, "Maya go home." Dadda carried Maya all the way back to the dry sand.

When we arrived back to dry sand, we had a picnic lunch and Maya kept saying, "Maya see ocean water." We told her next time we come to the beach we will see ocean water. She seemed ok with that answer as she then said, "more cracker please."

While Maya and I finished lunch, we caught dadda sleeping. Maya and I were very busy watching kites, dogs running, and people walking by.

Of course we had to stop off at the swings on our way back. While Maya was swinging, she said, Maya walked in ocean water." I said, "yes and you did such a great job!"

Then we met some people who had this awesome wheelbarrow which Maya had to test out. When she discovered that she could fill the empty water bottle up with sand and pour it in the wheelbarrow, that kept her busy. After playing with these other kids and their toys for over an hour, we finally made it back to our beach house where we cleaned up and changed for dinner.

We had a great day in the sand and water and hopefully next time we will be able to spend more time in the ocean!