Beach Lessons

We took Isaac to the beach for the first time today. Pictures will be up this weekend. But in the meantime, here are some things we learned that may be helpful to other new parents:

1. Go ahead and put in your child in the swimming diaper, but pack an extra one. Your child was not constipated yesterday, just waiting for the swimming diaper. (We only had the one that was on him and a regular diaper. Not enough.)

2. Your child can and will eat more sand than you expect. I'm talking handfuls of sand, one after another. It takes quite a bit of distraction to end the feast.

3. Always put your child's sunscreen on him before you get to the beach. If you wait, like we did, you will end up giving your child an exfoliating massage of sand and sunscreen. Oops.

4. The waves may look pretty to you and I, but not so much to an 11 month old. Expect gripping, crying and pure fear as waves come closer.

5. Babies don't understand the concept that if you stand in the water, it will get warmer. Instead, they understand crying.

6. You will never love pigeons more than you do when on the beach with your baby. Isaac would see the birds and say, "Ba, ba, ba!" He likes birds and they were a good distraction from the tasty sand and scary waves.

7. If your child is like Isaac and has begun banging his head to the floor when he gets mad, expect that to happen at the beach. Make sure you get a picture before you clean him off. (In our case, I had walked down to the water to rinse some sand off, Isaac got upset that I left, and went face down into the sand. We got our picture and wiped him down.)

8. Putting a towel in the car seat may seem like a good idea (it did to me, at least), but it's not. Your baby can't fit with the towel and it will only cause more crying, thrashing, and a bigger headache for everyone.

9. Have a bottle and whatever comfort item your child needs ready. An hour long trip at the beach for your baby is like an 8 hour day of hard labor for you. He will fall asleep within minutes. Isaac actually fell asleep holding his bottle to his mouth.

10. Don't give up. We'll be back at the beach tomorrow, but this time with reinforcements. Grandma and Aunts will be joining us! And of course, we'll have extra diapers. :)