On the beach, Ignatius gamely walked on the powdery sand. However, as he neared the breaking waves, he started to pull back. Still, he ventured to the edge of the breakers. To our dismay, he howled when a breaking wave washed over his feet. We weren't too sure why. We think it was the roar of the wave as it broke, coupled with the fact that his feet were buried in the sand! We carried him up, and he desperately kicked his feet to get rid of the remaining clumps of sand. It was quite funny...for us. haha.
It was all downhill after that. He wouldn't even come down to walk on the dry sand. Daddy and Mommy took turns to run in the water, kick and splash water to entice him...after all...he loves the swimming pool! I think we looked quite Bollywood. Thank goodness the beach was quite empty. Finally he consented to dipping his fingers in the water while we carried him, a little further out to sea so the waves didn't break around us.
Feeling a little sad at our failed mission to initate Ignatius to being a sea-lubber, we walked to the nearby beach shop. There we spied a nice little sand set, coupled with a watering can. We promptly bought it, and ventured back to the sea. We started out with watering Ignatius' legs, then hands...then slowly moved towards the water again. We "watered" the sea and Ignatius was suitable fascinated with the trickles of water on the surface.
Taking advantage of his distraction, we dipped his feet in. Ignatius kicked around, a little less terrified. We think the key was to be at a deeper depth, away from the breaking wave. Soon, he was waist deep in water, and started to enjoy himself. He quite liked the feeling of the current pulling him sideways, with his feet lifted off the sea bed, when the wave went in, and came back out. Then, as usual, he had to walk...and run. We looked like BayWatch, The Family Edition, as we ran up and down the coastline. He refused to stop even though he was getting quite tired.
All in all, it was a satisfying morning. Ignatius slept like a log when we got home.
