Surfer Girl

Constance was very timid around the ocean at first. She liked digging in the sand, but the surf coming at her was a little troubling. The first couple of days she spend a lot of time running from it and "clucking" her tongue at it, which is something she does when she is scared or upset. It was much better to have Eleanor fetch her water in a bucket and pour it on herself than to get near the waves herself.

She liked watching her brother and sisters on their boogie boards in the waves. And since she thinks she's as big as they are, and anything they can do, she can do...

but then again maybe not.

But finally, the day before we left, she got wet. Once we finally stopped trying to convince her to get in the water and just left her alone, she got brave enough to let it touch her and discovered that the ocean is, in fact, quite enjoyable.

And since the ocean was not scary anymore, she thought she'd give surfing a try. No kidding.

As you can see in the following video, I was not initially convinced that putting an eighteen-month-old on a boogie board in the Atlantic Ocean was good parenting.

I have to say, however, that after I watched her ride the surf over and over and over again, it may not have been good parenting, but it sure was cute !

My brave little surfer girl.

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and when it was finally time to put the boogie board away and go inside, surfer girl was heartbroken.