Sean: Snapshots at the Beach

Day 1: The first day he just dealt with the buckets. Four of them in various colors stacked and unstacked and stacked again. No shovel, no sand. Just the buckets. Oh, he did enjoy the sand, just not the way you would imagine. He likes to lay nestled from head to toe, face planted in the grains. Sand covers his body, tucks into his ears and under his swim diaper. Why did I bring this beach blanket and spread it so carefully on the ground if he was going to be so happy to be lying in the sand? But I know what he means; I love the warmth and the texture of the sand on my body too.

Day 2: He has graduated to the watering can today. Trip to the water’s edge to fill it, back to the sand to dump, to the water, to the sand. His little legs churn and continue. Then he plops with a shovel, finally a shovel, and fills the bucket. Same routine, but no walking. Shovel, dump, shovel, dump. This is my two year old. And finally today, he sits on the blanket. Leaves his sandwich on the edge and a gull swoops in to grab it. “Bird take it, Mommy,” he repeats again and again. We lay together then, and I pluck the seeds from cherries for him; the sweet juice drips down his chin. He grins at me from behind sandy, sticky fists: a precious moment with the sun and the sand and my dear little boy.

Day 3: He’s got the hang of this now. Immediately sets ME to work digging a hole in the earth. “Dig sand, Momma”. He gets the water, returning again and again to dump a cupful of water in the waiting hole. He is carrying a shovel, just for show I think, because he hasn’t actually used it. And it throws him just a little off balance so he loses the sloshing water in the bucket. He continues his bucket brigade for one, spilling more water than he makes into the hole. He drops his tools when he spots the big boys running races down the beach. “I go too, guys”, he calls after them, stubby legs flinging sand as he runs. Sea gulls stare at his gait and I marvel at how far he’s come, in beach time and in life. This little man hurling sand and sentences, eating cherries and racing down the beach.