The blog life

Once upon a time I didn't 'get' blogs. I really didn't understand why people wrote them or why people would read them. And there was no way I was ever going to write one. I thought "who would ever want to read about my life; who would care?".

Eventually, I realized there were some great blogs about cooking, comedy, etc, but I still didn't get the appeal of those other blogs like mommy blogs... until I became a mom. After I recovered from the stupor of having a colicky baby I started coming across blogs here and there that spoke to me or just interested me (oh, their kid does that too?).

I then started this blog a little over a year ago thinking that it was going to mostly be for grandma to stay up to date on the comings and goings of her granddaughter (she is one of my main readers), but I didn't think of myself as one of those bloggers. In fact, I still sometimes can't believe it. It was like when I dabbled in scrap booking (I think some people are still baffled about that one.) But here I am. Still blogging about my kid (and random other things) and I read more blogs these days as well. I have found great value in reading others blogs even if it is confirmation that being a mom can be tough, or that kids develop differently, or for ideas of things to do with my family.

I've read a number of local bloggers who have written accounts of their adventures at local parks and beaches, and about fun events occurring in my community. It's not that I wouldn't have discovered these on my own, but often reading these accounts gives me an extra push..."hey, that looks like fun... we should check it out". And that's what happened recently when we decided to take our water hating daughter to Medicine Lake. (Clarification: She loves the tub and her water table, but does not like pools, lakes, or splash pads.)

On the drive to the lake I tried to explain where we were going. I'd say "we are going to play with some water and sand" and each time Riley would reply with the word "sand" (it was clearly noticeable that she did not want water) . We went early in the morning to avoid the mid-day heat so we were able to find a fair amount of beach to ourselves.

As expected, Riley wanted nothing to do with the water. Even with her dad standing next to her on the beach she seemed really nervous when I would walk out into the water, yelling "mommy, mommy!".

Eventually, we discovered the 'rock' technique. Riley loves rocks and throwing rocks into water. I'd hand her a bunch of rocks, she'd throw them in the water, and Jesse and I would retrieve them for her. 

At first we dropped the rocks in her bucket which was placed just outside of the water. Then we'd drop them on the edge of the water... and each time we would put them slightly farther into the water. I sat about 10 feet out in the (very shallow) water and she eventually walked out to me and past me! The deepest she probably made it was just over her knees. She even fell down in the water and stood right back up like no big deal. It may seem little, but we were soooo proud of her.

Now, I think the key will be to keep introducing her to water. In fact, this past weekend I pulled out the sprinkler and set it on low. She might not have been running carefree through it, but she definitely played with the water and asked for it the next day too.

Perhaps she will really enjoy the water one day after all.