Getting Wet!

So, Saturday dawned after our first night in the caravan, and as on the previous day it was glorious sunshine and blue skies all the way. So we decided to go and have a walk round the local area, and found ourselves at the beach.

Now this is the first time Jamie had been on a beach since he could walk, back in Ibiza last May it sounds amazing but he was only crawling back then.

Croyde Beach is one of those which is very flat and therefore the tide goes in and out a long way. Now we had not gone prepared for the beach on that day i.e. no swimming costumes or towels, but decided to have a walk on it anyway. Whilst Ollie was happy collecting his "treasures" (shells, stones etc) Jamie instantly made a beeline for that great big wet thing in the distance i.e. the sea.

Now I was messing about at this point trying to get the video camera to work. As Jamie approached the water's edge it was clear he had no intention of stopping, and ran straight on in - complete with shoes and socks. Now being a flat beach he was not in any danger but even so, how far was he going to go. Completely fearless and up to his knees and ran out and lifted him up from the waves - and wow - was it cold! Not that Jamie seemed bothered in the slightest. It did not do my shoes any good either - they had already suffered badly from an ill-considered shortcut across a waterlogged field at Butlins the previous week, but there was no time to take them off.

Out of the water we were able to remove our shoes and socks, roll our trousers up and go back in - together this time, the two of us, whilst Claire and Ollie explored the rock pools.

As Jamie grows older I become more and more aware how different he is to Ollie. He is just completely fearless when it comes to new experiences. For example the first time Ollie even set foot in the sea he screamed and screamed. Jamie I really have to keep an eye on - today I went out of the room for a couple of minutes - when I came back in he was standing on the kitchen table!

But in other ways, Jamie lags behind - still at almost the age of two he has not said any words other than mum or dad though he can clearly understand everything that is being said - and follow quite detailed instructions. He just does not want to speak. Ollie was talking nineteen to the dozen and had a vocabulary of at least 100 words well before his second birthday. Yet can't do some things that Jamie can already do. I understand that all children develop different skills at different rates, but I often find it remarkable how different siblings, who are made from exactly the same genetic material can be so different.

This was demonstrated further at our next port of call, "Cascades" the on-site swimming pool at Ruda. Take a look at this slide from the pool - the white one with the steps, not the red one.

Not too daunting?

Now for years I have been trying to encourage Ollie to go on things like this slide, and been frustrated by his tantrums and refusal to do so - which can be very upsetting when every other child is going on it, and yours simply refuses. As you will know I try so hard to encourage Ollie to try new experiences to build his confidence and I have made some progress in some areas, but no joy with this slide. Jamie however, was straight up the steps, sat down and slid down the other side laughing his head off - and again was fearless. He was round, back up the steps and off again. I was sat just beyond at the bottom to catch him if needed but he did not need much help - even though more than once he got off balance and ended up underwater but no tears from these duckings, straight up, full of beans and round for another go.

Ollie however spread his wings in other areas, by wings I mean his water wings. As with the pool at Butlins there was a lazy river but this one was on a much smaller scale, and with few people in the pool, he was not intimidated, here's a picture of it.

The lazy river

Now in the past I have always had to hold on to Ollie in the water, he panics if he realises he is out of his depth, but little by little, I was able to encourage him to let go, even thought it was out of his depth, he was quite safe with the water wings, and eventually he was going round quite happily on his own with me a couple of metres away to help him if he got into any trouble. But all was well, so all good for his confidence, and he had a great time. There were various fountains and waterfalls in the pool as well, which he loves, so this pool provided us with some great entertainment, and whilst Claire was minding the children I was able to have some fun on this.

Splash!

Yes, they even had a large tube - which whilst not a patch on some of the big ones you get at some water parks was quite enough for me!

And there's still more to come.

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Jason xx