We ventured out to the beach today, like so many other people did! I went to the beach Tuesday and Thursday and there were not nearly as many people out those two days like there were today! The other two days I went, I wore my apron back tankini, it has an open back. Today however, I chose to wear my black and white tankini which has no straps, it's more of a tube top! I wanted to let the strap lines I had from my other bathing suit get some sun.
Cade is scared of the ocean, I think it could be the waves he's scared of, although I'm not 100% sure. It's funny he is scared of the ocean because he isn't scared of the pool or the bath tub. He will climb into a bath tub by himself, turn on the water and plug the tub! He also has no problems climbing into a pool, whether an adult is with him or not! I will say it does make going to the beach with him easy since he stays away from the water! The waves weren't very big today, it was definitely calm compared to yesterday. Since it was so calm, I decided to take Cade into the water, past where the waves were breaking. The beach we went to today had tons of shells in the water, right where the waves were breaking. It hurt trying to get past that part because there were so many, I guess my feet are tender. When a wave broke it would send shells crashing against my feet and shins and that didn't feel really good either. But once we made it past the breaking waves it was calm with just tiny waves coming in from the ocean. We were waist deep, although when a wave came in it would rise to about chest level. Cade was a little whiny, not liking the waves that came in, but the purpose of going out there was to help him over come his fear! We stayed out for a little while and then I ventured back to the shore with him.
I spent the next couple of hours tanning in my chair and watching Cade! While he doesn't venture towards the water, he will venture towards people, especially if they have food! He'll walk up and look at them and it never fails, they always give him whatever it is they are eating! I think he must have an, "I'm really cute, can I please have what you are eating," face that he puts on or something! I do try to keep him away from people! But he is a very busy little boy out there! And usually the people he walks up to are people he's already been walking up to because he is so curious and they go on and on about how cute he is! He really is a big hit at the beach! The other day this guy was throwing trash away and Cade was watching him as he did it. As the guy threw the trash into the bag Cade started clapping, which is what we do at home! The guy thought it was so funny! It was just a little later when he was eating and Cade walked over to investigate! He walked away with a Capri Sun! I probably don't have to worry about lugging a cooler out there any more! He could just pan handle off the beach goers! Actually they think he is so cute they just want to feed him!
Just before we were going to leave I decided to take Cade into the water again. Going out before did nothing to help his fear! He wouldn't even stand on the shore where the waves came in after they broke! This time I waited till really small waves came in to break, I had learned my lesson before with the shells! I started in and made it past the breaking waves. Just in front of me my two nephews, Caleb and Patric, were out on their boogie boards. As I headed to them I saw a bigger wave coming in, this wave began to crest a bit too early! It broke right where Cade and I were, sending me tumbling towards the shore with him. All I could think was, "don't let go, don't let go, don't let go!" I was afraid of losing Cade in the wave, I didn't want that to happen. I did my best to try to keep us somewhat above water as this wave had us tumbling about. Cade of course was screaming in between going in and out of the water. I managed to hang on to him and survive being thrown around in the ocean. The wave had broke early and had sent us back towards shore. I started to stand in order to try again, but as I did I realized that my bathing suit top had been pulled down in the chaos of being thrown about by the wave!
I immediately dropped back into the water and tried to fix my top! But unfortunately that wave had pushed us right to the very spot where all the waves were breaking! So as I was trying to fix my top a wave broke and sent us tumbling again! All I had to do was stand up because the water was very shallow, but if I stood up I would have been exposed to all the beach goers! My dignity was so great that it would not allow me to do that! Another wave came crashing down on us and then my bottoms were pulled down a little, so I definitely wasn't going to stand at that point! I had Cade with one arm and with the other I was try to scramble to fix myself before another wave broke! But the waves were coming in so fast that I could never quite get myself together before we were sent tumbling again. My adrenaline kicked in as I fought to keep us both above water, while trying to tug at my bathing suit, and keep the entire beach from seeing me naked! I began to panic just a little bit as Caleb happened to come in on the next wave that came crashing down on us. I yelled at him to had me his boogie board, he kind of just stared at me. I asked again for it and told him to take Cade. I'm sure he could sense the panic in my voice as I yelled at him. He took Cade who was at this point screaming from being bashed over and over by the never ending waves. I held the board in front of me as I again tried to fix myself before another wave broke. But the waves just kept coming in and breaking, knocking me and my bathing suit about. Tara had been standing on the shore just in front of me, totally unaware of what was taking place, because she was in the middle of texting someone on her cell phone. The crashing sounds of the waves were so loud that our screams could not be heard. I screamed at Tara to come help me. I don't know what she could have done, maybe stood in front of me so that I could have had something blocking me...I don't know. As she looked at me and took notice of the situation, she did as any true friend would have done, she busted out laughing at me! It was great!
Here I was with my bathing suit top pulled down and my bottoms not in place either! All I had was a boogie board that I was holding in front of me, which for some reason I kept trying to wrap around myself, but those boogie boards aren't very bendable! The waves just kept coming, I had but seconds in between each one to try and fight with my suit before the next wave knocked me over again! It began to seem like a hopeless situation! And my best friend in the whole world was up on shore laughing at me! Ok, I can't say that if the situations were reversed I wouldn't have been laughing at her!
Over and over again I was knocked around. I struggled against the waves pushing me forward and the receding force of the water as it tried to suck me back into the ocean. It was a struggle to maintain my position against an almost simultaneous pushing and pulling while at the same time trying to fix myself! Just as I would get one side of the suit in place another wave would come in and knock both me and suit around, my efforts were almost pointless!
I have no idea what happened, whether the hand of god came down from the heavens and stilled the water, or there was just a long pause before the next wave broke. But miraculously I managed to get the top and bottom of my bathing suit in place and stand! I could hear the angels singing hallelujah as I stood! I staggered in towards the shore, my body tired from the struggle. I did all I could do, I threw my arms up on either side of me and kinda leaned forward like I was taking a bow, with a big smile upon my face! I wasn't sure if anyone took notice of the show, but if someone had, I wanted to bow!
I walked back to my chair and collapsed into it, it was then that I realized that my bottoms were full of tiny shells! I could feel them poking me! As I sat there I began to feel the stinging of all the tiny cuts I had scattered about on my legs. As I looked my legs over I could see little amounts of blood escaping the cuts I had from the shells on the ocean floor!
Luckily I managed to escape that situation with out being butt naked on the beach...but I think it's safe to say that Cade will be terrified of the ocean for the rest of his life!
When we got home the first thing I did was shower! As I peeled my suit off the clattering of shells falling out could be heard! You should have seen my bathroom floor it was covered in tiny pieces of shell! At the very least I got a really good exfoliation courtesy of the ocean!
