Cullen’s First Trip to the Beach
July 21st, 2010This is part two of our recent trip to the beach. I posted details and photos of Maddie’s experiences and now it’s time for Cullen’s story.
Cullen is almost 6 months old, so he’s at an age where it is pretty easy to take him places without complaint. As long as he’s fed, has had enough sleep, hasn’t been forced to spend too much time in the car, and has his mommy nearby, he’s a happy boy.
As I mentioned in Maddie’s post, we headed to the beach on Saturday morning. I was concerned about the kids getting too much sun. In addition to lathering them with sunscreen, we borrowed a cabana for some extra shade. Lugging the cabana, 3 adult chairs, a kid chair, a beach blanket, water bottles, snacks, sunscreen, 5 towels, cameras, and 2 small children to the beach was no small feat for 3 adults. In the end, it seemed like much more trouble than it was worth (especially considering that I got only a few decent photos, most of which were taken with my iPhone).
Once we figured out how to set up the cabana, some beach patrol dude came by to inform us that we were welcome to use the tent but that we needed to have it at waist height (um, whose waist?). It took some finagling to flatten it to the approved height. At this point, we’re already frustrated because the tent looks unusable and we realized that we had it backwards. So while Gabe and his mom turned the tent around, I managed to wrangle the two kiddos. The beach started out to be quite a bit of trouble.
The good news is that Cullen liked it! It’s rare for us to lay him down and then have him fall asleep, but that is precisely what he did. The comfort of the beach blanket on the sand plus the added darkening effect of the cabana shade and sunglasses only added to the lull of the waves. Add to all this a tired little boy and a pacifier, and you’ve got a recipe for a fabulous nap!
After he woke up from his nap, I was happy to have the privacy of the flattened tent so that I could feed him without exposing myself to the world. This was a big plus!
I tried to keep Cullen from the sand, but he still managed to get little bits of sand all over himself. It’s just impossible to avoid getting sticky bits of sand everywhere. I tried to keep him wholly on the blanket, but a little foot kept slipping onto the sand. Oh well, it eventually all washed off of him at the pool, and he didn’t seem to mind. I just didn’t think that his soft, sensitive baby skin needed any exfoliating.
Cullen enjoyed the pool in his newly borrowed suit and rasher guard. He looked adorable in his beach/pool digs. He gave us many smiles while we played in the kiddie pool.
Cullen was awake most of the time while Maddie took her marathon nap, but he was ready for a good nap by the time she woke up. Fortunately for him, we brought the Ergo and he comfortably was strapped to Mommy for the walk to dinner and slept throughout the majority of our dinner. I had to contort myself in weird positions to avoid dropping food on him, but it sure was nice to eat a meal without a wiggly baby trying to grab at everything.
He woke up and gave out smiles to other restaurant patrons and waiters. He spent a little bit of time outside of the carrier before it was time to take our stroll on the beach. Once again, he was comfortably strapped to Mommy.
He developed quite the attachment to Mommy this weekend. He certainly has preferred me in the past and even demanded me to hold him above all others, but he took his Mommy attachment to new levels. It’s very sweet, and I’m loving the extra cuddles and special smiles. I love how when I take him into my arms, he looks around and grins at anyone who will look at him and then buries his head into my shoulders. He’s clearly saying, “Look! I have my Mommy! I got what I wanted! My Mommy is the best! She’s right here, look! I got my Mommy, I got my Mommy!” It’s adorable.
Aside from refusing to sleep in the co-sleeper (which is a pain to pack up and tote on a trip) and a few rough moments in the car, Cullen had a great weekend. I’m not sure when he will be visiting the beach again, but I’d say it was a successful first trip for him!
Stay tuned for more posts about our beach weekend…
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