The trip to the beach
Alex started talking a lot more beginning on the trip down to the beach. We left the house right around 5:00am that Monday morning after actually getting the boys up and giving them baths and everything. Of course, giving them baths meant they didn't go immediately to sleep so Alex started talking our ears off. Pretty much everything his says is the first syllable of the word - tiger = tig (long i). He babbled through the first movie Ethan had picked to watch on the dvd (G-Force I think) and told us each animal & ball and "THAT" in the movie. Thankfully, he fell asleep sometime before the 2nd movie.
We stopped for a pit stop at a rest area when Alex woke up and starting patting his groin - that's his signal that he has peed or needs to go potty (he has pooped and peed in the potty several times now but not consistently day to day - one day he does it, next day he won't). On the way to the bathroom, Alex, who hadn't quite had enough sleep yet, fell while holding my hand so didn't get all the way down and yet somehow managed to scrape his knee well enough to get a "boo boo." [He is so my child, poor kid - scraped the front of his right knee on the way to the beach and the back of his right calf on the way home from the beach - both well enough to cause bleeding.] Ethan went to get a bandaid from Steve and we were back in business and then back on the road where Alex talked for the first 20 minutes about his boo boo and then thankfully passed out again.
We stopped for lunch & gas in Columbia, SC - Steve dropped me and the boys at McDonald's with a play area while he got gas. Ethan helped me by holding Alex's hand to keep him there with me while I paid and then we went outside to the play area to eat. Steve got there just as we sat down to eat. The stipulation was that they had to eat before they could play. Ethan negotiated: he would eat his hamburger but he didn't want his french fries. He had snacked in the van so I agreed and he ate that burger quicker than he ever has before. Alex thought this was his cue to play as well. When he realized that Ethan was playing and he was still trapped in the high chair, he pretended to "drop" his chicken nuggets on the ground knowing he wouldn't then have to eat them. Pretty sly - but sadly for him, mama had more money and went to get him apples instead. A couple of apples later, Alex got to play some, too. This play area was different than any we'd seen before - it had tubes everywhere that you climbed through to get to slides, etc (not the normal square type areas you climb up but actual tubes). Alex got in to follow Ethan up and quickly turned around with one hand outstretched saying "Hup?" [help]. Ethan came back down and helped him up and they were gone - about 6 trips up and down this long slide and it was time to go again.
On the road this time, both boys (& Mama) took a nap. When they woke up, we watched 1 more movie and then arrived happily at our lovely hotel: Longbay Resort. Normally when we go places, I check in and Steve starts unpacking. This time, I was in the very back working on putting shoes on and Steve said he would go check in. That didn't last - he came back a few minutes later with the news that they were upgrading us from an ocean view efficiency (small stove & fridge) to an ocean front queen suite with full sized kitchen area & living room. Why did he come back? We wanted to pay with one card but they hold a deposit above that and we wanted that held on another card. He didn't know how to do that. I went in and told the woman exactly that and she had no problem with it - I'll chalk it up to I had a nap on the way down and he didn't. By the time I was done though, he had the car unloaded and the boys ready to go to the elevator.
Actual Vacation Notes
As soon as we got to the room, we immediately got swim suits on and headed to the beach. It was only 3:00 so there was plenty of time to get some sand & surf under our belts before dinner. As we left the room, I said the boys had to hold someone's hand - this was the rule for the whole week. When we walked anywhere, they had to hold someone's hand and in most cases, it couldn't just be each other's hand. Most of the time, including this time, the boys opted for Mama's hand. They have both become Daddy's boys lately because they are with him all day and the three of them are "the boys" - they hang out and do fun stuff so he's the fun one while Mama works. This week, though, they took full advantage of having Mama there and I loved it - they wanted ME! It was awesome.
As we walked onto the beach, we found a spot to take our shoes off and put life jackets on the boys. Then hand in hand all 4 of us walked into the ocean. The boys actually giggled and laughed and squealed with delight as the first waves hit their little feet. They absolutely loved it - we went a little further in, with the water about mid-calf on me and let them feel a couple of actual waves. Steve had one of the boys and I had the other and then we switched.
Ethan was very clingy in the ocean- he loved it but he's scared a little bit at the same time. Sadly, what he's scared of seems to be that this is the ocean and a shark might get him. I tried to explain that a shark can't come in water 3 inches deep but he wasn't buying it and wanted to make sure he stayed close. Not that this was a problem - that's sort of the point, stay with Mama & Daddy in the water. That was the rule before we even saw water - you do not go in the water without Mama & Daddy with you at all times. Unfortunately, Alex goes to the water and then looks around to see if you are coming. But hey, at least he looks for us. But he was totally loving all parts of the ocean - until sometime on Friday when he went to the water without us and Steve went to get him and then a rogue wave came (we're talking 6 inches deep, not like Alex walked into the middle of the ocean before we got to him) which wasn't really a bad wave but it was just enough to catch Steve mid-stride with Alex's hand in his on the edge of a little section where the previous day's rough waves & rip tides had caused a small shelf to form and Steve went down and had Alex sputtering by the end. Never in any danger but salt water in the mouth & nose is no fun. He didn't go back in the ocean without Mama's hand after that (Daddy wasn't acceptible after this) and even made Mama hold him when we were past the point where the water hit his knees (so basically anything from where he & Steve tripped was "hold me" level).
We played in the sand and thankfully had enough beach toys that each boy could have a bucket (of some sort) and a shovel at all times as sharing these items wasn't in the cards. Sharing only came in the form of "you can have this shovel now and I'm taking that one" .... "if I can't have any shovel though, I am going to take yours." Oh fun - but it was fun as Ethan was interested in making wet sand wetter by getting buckets of water and dumping it on the already wet sand (which seconds later would get even wetter by the next wave) and then piling that really wet sand in his bucket and then trying to dump it out. Alex wanted to hold his bucket and dig in the sand and throw the sand off the end of the shovel - a game I was not fond of and tried several times to stop. Alex also thoroughly enjoyed chasing the sea gulls and would happily have chased them all over the beach and well out of my line of sight and my warnings of "Alex come back" or "Alexander - STOP" had no weight. The one phrase that brought him back every single time though was "Alex, he's faster than you, you can't catch him." Somehow he bought that and came back each time. Unlike the accident prone trait of mine, if I was told that, I'd be even more determined to catch the bird but not Alex - he'd come back each time and yet forget when he went after the next bird, until I told him again. Quite funny actually.
Another hysterical bit was the "Alex, NO!" saga ... This was when Daddy (poor Daddy) tried to build a sand castle. He apparently forgot that a sandcastle is a pile of sand and piles of sand are good for stomping and/or knocking down. He got one good bucket of sand dumped out to form the perfect tower and then tried to put a castle shaped bucket on top of that to make the center section of his castle. Alex was about to chase a bird when he saw the first part of this tower that Daddy had just erected. Alex stopped in his tracks, which made Ethan stop and look over, too, and started towards the tower. Ethan then started towards it as well (& seemed to be giggling the giggle you hear from the evil genius in cartoons) while I sat by in the chair with the camera and Daddy said "Alex, NO!"...and blocked him. Alex stopped and Steve went back to filling his castle bucket for the next phase - Alex took full advantage and almost had the tower when Daddy caught him and said "No"...picture a game of red light / green light when someone is almost done and the time between the "IT" person saying red light or green light is mere milliseconds ... "NO" .... "NOOO" ... "NO!!!" .... too late, part of the tower came down. Poor Daddy - he set about putting the sand back in the bucket to reshape it. At this point, Ethan just stood by watching and giggling (mostly because I was laughing hysterically knowing Steve's attempt was going to be futile). Alex lost interest as Daddy took his time refilling the bucket. Daddy dumped the original bucket and again perfectly shaped it. As he set about trying to get the castle on top of the tower though Ethan started after the tower thus began the "Ethan, NO" saga....Daddy did get the castle on top of the bucket shape to make his perfect center but alas the next small wave hit the base of the tower and started the whole mess to crumble at which point both Ethan & Alex seized the opportunity to finish off the demolition.....end of the sandcastle for our trip unfortunately for Daddy but the boys still fully enjoyed playing with their toys.
Holding Hands
I mentioned that the boys had to hold hands when we went anywhere. On the way back from the elevator to our room though, they were allowed to run along the carpet to our door until I said "stop." They actually obeyed these rules really well. However, having the freedom to run along the carpet gave Alex an idea....as we left the room and I said to hold hands, Alex put both hands in front of himself and proceeded to hold his own hand. I again told him to hold hands and he shook his hands in front of him and said "UHH" as if saying, I'm already holding my own hand, Mama. So I asked him, "are you holding your own hand?" - he said he was. I had to break it to him that he had to hold my hand or Daddy's - holding his own hand wasn't an option. He did this several more times through the week and would even say "walk...walk" as he held his own hands in front of himself to indicate he wanted to walk holding his own hand - it was really hard not to just let him hold his own hand because the idea was so cute and the whole shaking his hands in front of him so I could see he was holding his own hand was just priceless.
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