this woman’s work

Madison was worried before we got here because she’s developed a fear of sharks. And crabs. So we told her that sharks don’t come to Oregon beaches because it’s too cold and that there aren’t any pinchy crabs here anyway. And we decided to put away the ocean book before she got to the jellyfish. She’s very nearly four, which means she’s just figuring out that she’s mortal and she worries.

The ocean is, of course, pretty darn big even if you’re not a very small person so she stood on the sand and just started. Noah took off to leap into the waves but she was afraid to even put her feet in the edges and the foam spooked her, too. So she built sand castles while Noah and Brett ran in and splashed around. She’d look up to see what they were doing and shake her head.

Then we walked down to the rocks (where the sea lions sun themselves but they weren’t out today — there was one out in the waves bobbing his head but that was it). And she was grossed out by the seaweed until I got her to touch it and then she was more brave about touching things. She started gathering shells (really shell fragments) and I led her bit by bit closer to the wet sand, close to the waves, until one came up and pooled around her feet. It surprised her but she didn’t run this time. She stopped and we watched it come in again, pooling around her feet again and this time she laughed. Then she shouted, “I did it!” and then she started to dance.

Pics of these events in the next entry. (Written without coffee after sleeping crammed into the bed with two wriggly children. Typos are a given.)

We’re at Newport Beach for the next two nights. Theoretically we’re right on the beach but there’s a very long flight of stairs to get down to it. Still we can see it and hear it from our room, which makes for nice sleeping. (Although there’s only a queen size bed and they may have given away the roll-away we reserved so nice sleeping could go by the wayside. We’ll see.)

The Easter candy onslaught continues. The good people at the hotel handed over goodie bags (along with sand pails) when we checked in. I told the woman, “Thank you, that’s so nice! Only I don’t think my kids deserve this after their behavior on the drive over here.” And the woman said, “Oh just give them to them — it’ll improve everyone’s mood right off!” So I did and she was right.

Madison was afraid of the ocean at first but warmed up a couple hours into it. (Pictures coming up in the next entry.) Noah put on his swim suit and headed out with Brett even though March on the Oregon coast is no place for swimming.

Oh and we hit the Hanna Andersson outlet! I could have spent a lot more but a girl has got to be thrifty!!