Alex and I had a big and wonderful adventure today. We took the train to North Berwick and went down to the beach. This isn’t the first time he’s been on a beach, but I think it might be the first time he’s been free to walk around on his own.
He was fascinated by the water’s edge: how it raced away from him, then came rushing back. All that splashy water! A couple of times, it flooded over his shoes and wet his socks. He was none too sure about this, and each time it happened he took my hand and led me further up the beach, where he investigated sea shells and sand.
We also played on the grass nearby, and had sausage rolls for lunch. Alex, oblivious to the idea of traffic, insisted on toddling over to the heavy chain railing that ran between the grass and the road, and swinging it back and forth. Then he wanted to drop our beach ball over the top of the chain, and crawl underneath to get it back. At least he seems to have developed the sense that we don’t want him to play in the road: he didn’t step any further out than was necessary to grab the ball and give it back to me.
The weather was wonderful until about 2 o’clock, when it started to cloud over and get a bit chilly. We took the 15:20 train back, and wandered up the High Street and the Bridges before catching a bus home. Finally, we stopped off at the playpark. Alex had another half hour of running from swings to slide to bouncy animals, before getting tired and pulling himself up onto one of the benches. And falling off it.
No wonder that he started throwing cushions down to the floor, and nesting on them at about 7! Bath, jimjams, teeth, and a story. He was asleep by quarter to eight. And while he lay in my arms in the rocking chair, I drifted off for about five minutes, too.
Mmmmmm! I love Wednesdays!