September 13

Read about our first day in Florida here.

On our second day in Florida, Caleb and Daisy met the ocean for the first time.

Daisy loved it.

She loved the sand, the sun, the water, the BIRDS! Daisy was crazy about the seagulls and pelicans.

Caleb, however? He hated it all. We tried to put him in the ocean, but this is him running back to the sand in terror. He wanted nothing to do with the ocean, and was very concerned any time one of us went near the water. He kept shouting, "Watch out for the undertow! Don't go in too far! Be careful!"

I suppose that's due to the fact that we read lots of books to prepare him for the plane ride, but no ocean books. His only ocean experience is the Berenstein Bears book, "The Bears Take Vacation", in which Papa Bear gets sucked out into the ocean. Oops.

But Caleb liked the sand! There's his little footprint and my big one.

This is where Caleb felt safest: on a blanket, on the sand, far from the water.

Actually, he felt safest up in the condo, as far away as he could possibly be.

But Daisy paid no attention to her brother's antics. She loved the beach!

And amazingly, we had the whole thing to ourselves!

Daisy and I had some quality time on the beach. Don't worry - our lily-white skin was well protected!

She wanted me to hold her, but she also wanted to stick her foot out into the water. Funny girl.

Can you tell how terrified/concerned Caleb is? The only way he would risk the water was if someone was holding him, maintaining as much body contact as possible.

I love this. Fearless Daisy, ready to play. Cautious Caleb, wrapped securely in Daddy's arms.

One of my vacation reads was The Highly Sensitive Child. While I'm not yet finished, so far it describes Caleb to a T, and it's already given me a lot of insight into why he's so overwhelmed by things like airplanes and the ocean and new situations and new foods and... well, you get the idea. 

And this girl? She's just like her mama.

After the beach, we visited Aunt Gladys. She shared with us that she highly disapproves of our children and how we're raising them, and that she thinks we lack personal discipline.
And then I cried.
And then I was thankful for Aunt Gladys' kind, loving neighbors, and that we had our own condo unit.
It was quite a day.

You can read Day Three here.