2005.08.05 - truman bums around the beach -
Truman visited the beach for the first time (out of my tummy, that is) yesterday. It was also our longest road trip to date with the two of my babes. All indications are that it was a success. Truman spent long hours sleeping in his baby wrap (we're trying my own wrap for a change) while I chased after Everett in the waves, sat by a bonfire, ate s'mores, cooked delicious eggs benedict and bacon and drank lots of good coffee, walked in the brilliant sun and driving sand that is Manzanita in the late summer.
Even though I've been the mom to two boys for over three months, now, I'm still amazed at my frailty. As I tripped over sand dunes, in pursuit of Everett (who was hell-bent at reaching the waves) and his friend Guthrie, bouncing Truman in the wrap, I wondered - what would I do if Everett and Guthrie got sucked into an undertow? Would I swim after them with Truman attached (surely losing my knot in the process)? Would I just scream at the top of my lungs for help?
No one got drowned, although Everett got drenched. I had him take off his shirt and run back on his own as the sun sunk behind the clouds slinking low on the horizon. He froze, Truman bounced, but all was well and everyone slept like piles of driftwood.
Although he's only a tiny one, still, I feel as if I'm successful in nature-ifying Truman. He spends several hours a week lying under the gigantic pines at various Portland parks; he's felt the cold salt air of the beach at night, and the sandy hot wind of the day; he's sniffed roses, and lilacs, and peonies, and butterfly bushes, on our walks from home to Trader Joe's; he's been rained on, sunned on, dunked his little feet in the big big wading pool at Kenilworth Park. He's shopped at all manner of farmer's markets. Tomorrow we run on the riverbank, his first ride in the jogging stroller. He's one of the lucky ones, for sure.
