A Couple of Smiles

Baby went to the beach with daddy today, falling asleep on the way. She enjoyed a 45-minute snooze while dad checked out the surf from the truck with baby in the backseat. Once she awoke, I carried her onto the sand and walked her into and out of the water of the lapping waves. She clung to me at the onset, and so I tried to get her confidence up by having her set her bare feet on the warm, dry sand. For some reason, even that was too new today, and she recoiled in fear. I comforted her and tried the ocean again, and she slowly started warming to it. Every now and again, when a wave had come and covered my shins, I would dip just the toes of one or both of her feet in the water and then whisk her into the air, or my arms. That was enough for a couple of smiles, from both of us.