We went to the beach today. This is one of Ollie's favorite things to do and I try to be a good sport about it. So, I went. We went to the Gulf today and the water was really shallow and warm. Not much for cooling off in. Ollie, Hannah, and Joe really got into wading, swimming, and using the goggles to look at fish underwater. They saw tropical fish, needle fish, a skate, and some other unidentifiable fish. Grace and I went to the concession stand, bought a bucket of ice for $2 and sat in the shade eating it. Later she went out in the water but I mostly sat on the beach and baked. I have been reading a book about Sensory Integration Disorder (something I am convinced Joe has to a small degree) and it has been very interesting and makes me view the integration of my senses in a whole new way. Well, today I decided that when it comes to the sensations of the beach, I have SID. I am driven to distraction and irritability by my slippery, sweaty, sandy skin. I can't even comfortably sit on a blanket because there is sand everywhere and you just can't get it off. I tried to stay calm about it all today and I did a good job. As we were leaving the beach Hannah and Joe were both crying in the car because of their own uncomfortableness from the sand. Ollie was annoyed and made the comment that they were the only ones on the beach freaking out because of sand. If only he knew how close to joining them I was! :0)
2 comments:
Oh girl, I am RIGHT THERE with you!!! I HATE the beach. I feel like I spend hours slathering sunscreen on miles of skin just to have its main purpose be to make the sand stick like superglue. The worst of the whole beach experience to me though is crunching on sand. No matter what I do, I always end up eating some...on my sandwich, on my drink, somehow, some way, it gets in. YUCK!
I do love to walk on the beach at sunset and collect shells. And I much prefer the Gulf to the Atlantic, but honestly, I could never go and be totally fine too.
Some of my kids' favorite memories (and my favorite memories of them) are from the beach though, so I go for them.
Not crazy about the sand myself and always try to "give myself over to it" when we go. Lol But the fact that you did so well reminded me of the trip home from TN when Kate was SCREAMING and everyone else was quiet just waiting to see what would happened. I had ZERO patience and was about to lose it when I had the thought I cannot do anything for Kate, I cannot do anything for Jeff (who was driving) but I COULD do something for the kids by keeping my cool and concntrating on remaining patient for them. I cooed to the baby and asked that the kids not be upset with her, that it was so hard for her in the car for that long, etc. etc. etc. They latched right on to my patience and felt bad for her instead of scared-of-impatient-mama. Lol IT worked great and though youmay not have had that conscious thought, that is what you did too! You CHOSE to remain cool about it for THEM. Awesome.
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