Beach Bum

Ellie's first birthday came and went last Saturday (June 30) without a lot of Hurrah (I had to work, so there was a lot of quality, but low-key, Daddy-Ellie time) but we did get to have a little celebration later in the week while at the beach with Marty's family. We sang Happy Birthday to her with a candle in a banana (because I kept forgetting to make a dairy-free dessert for the occasion). She seemed a little confused, but was excited, as always, to eat banana. This was Ellie's first real vacation and considering all the people, the different atmosphere, strange bed, sharing a room with Mom and Dad, different schedule and teething, the week went very well and Ellie was a real trooper.

We headed to Ocean City, MD on Sunday night around Ellie's bedtime assuming that she would sleep in the car all the way and then we could just plop her into bed when we arrived. She did sleep on the way, but she woke up about 20 minutes away from our destination (I think she woke up when we started hitting traffic lights) and cried and cried. When we got there, she got a quick glimpse of Gram, Grandpa, Uncle Scott, Aunt Rachel and cousin Nathan and became instantly awake and excited. I tried to put her down, but she was running around playing peek a boo and acting about as far from tired as you could get, so I took her back upstairs to say hi to the family and she ran around like a maniac for about an hour. At 11pm she was still showing no signs of being tired, but we gave it a shot anyway and she was asleep in minutes.

As this was the first time Elise ever went to bed so late, we got our first lesson that going to bed late does not translate to sleeping in (as we'd hoped). In fact, she was up at 4:45am (an hour and 15 minutes earlier than usual) letting us know that her idea of vacation is apparently very different from ours. Luckily, things settled down as the week progressed and for the most part she went down easily and got up at a reasonable hour every day. There was one glaring exception, however, on Thursday night. That night, there were fireworks just about a mile away from our condo and it was very, very loud. The sky lit up, the booms were huge and some you could even feel in your chest. She slept through it without so much as a stir. Then later that night, Marty came into the bedroom around 1:30am and the door squeaked a little and of course she woke right up and refused to go back to sleep. It was a very, very long night.
She has what appears to be her second tooth making its way through her bottom gum, and I had a sandwich that may have had a slice of cheese on it...we don't really know the reason for the horrible night (and cranky Friday morning) but by Friday afternoon she seemed to be in better spirits and all was well again.

Her second pool adventure was much improved over the last (we took her a few weeks ago and she hated it, crying most of the time). She wasn't exactly jumping with joy, but she wasn't crying either so I'd say that's progress. By the end of the week, she even gestured like she wanted to get in the pool, which I'd say is a sign that she liked it even though we never did get a smile out of her while she was "swimming".

The beach was a big hit though. The ocean scared her a little, but she loved playing in the sand (giant sandbox!) and was even pretty good at walking in it. She took one or two faceplants, which resulted in sand sticking all over her face (because of all the sunblock) but it didn't actually seem to bother her. One day, she randomly started doing yoga poses, purposely sticking her head in the sand (and Marty and I cracked up, which probably encouraged her to keep doing it). Yoga eventually led to sand in the eye, but I think that one sand in the eye incident in a week of beaching is pretty good.

When I was a kid, my family used to go to Ocean City vacation every year, so it was a little surreal being there with my daughter. We took her for a walk on the Boardwalk and to Trimpers Rides (a Wolfe/Meredith/Todd/Bittner tradition) for a ride on the Merry-go-Round. I have a picture with me and my mom on that very same ride (and same horse!) when I was a baby. It was fun to share my childhood memories and traditions with my own daughter, and next year she will be able to enjoy it all even more.

Next year will be here faster than we think.