July 4, 2012: CutieBoyBaby's Vacation

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Dogs that oink
If CutieBoyBaby were old enough to remember this trip, he would not remember it as the vacation in the South Seas, but rather the place where he got to watch big trucks, ride in buses and the front seat of cars, and greet chickens and the funny dogs that oink.
We are sitting on the beach looking at the bluest, clearest, warmest (?) ocean water I have ever enjoyed. A few minutes ago he heard the Clockwise Bus (as opposed to the Anti-Clockwise Bus) lumber past and he started crying because he wanted to be on it.

There is a playground near the road that leads up into the hills where our house is. CutieBabyBoy loves going there, but usually, the reason he wants to go there is because then we are so much closer to the dump trucks and earth movers that are engaged in creating a parking lot nearby. He has spent a good number of hours there already, watching the dirt and the big trucks that move it.
Better than the playground

He also fell in love with the Smart Car we rented yesterday. The biggest point of conflict was communicating to him that he did not get to drive just because he was in the front seat. He was so sad when we turned the car back in.

The Cook Islands are known for their black pearls. Yesterday we stopped in a shop so SOS could continue his efforts to convince me that he really did think I needed some pearls. CutieBabyBoy was so excited to see all the little balls in the display cases. "Ball! Ball!" he proclaimed at every opportunity. Fortunately the proprietor had both a sense of humor and a son only a few months older.

The ocean is not fun quite yet. He wants so very much to be in the water, but the swells scare him. The only times he has wandered in on his own has been when the tide is so low that the reef keeps all but the smallest rise and fall past. The sand, on the other hand, meets with his approval. As do the number of rocks (read coral) that he can throw into the water from a safe distance.

The dripping faucet is much more fun than the ocean.
All in all, he is enjoying being a boy. Running barefoot, staying out in the rain, chasing lizards and hiding behind palm branches. It brings back so many memories of my own childhood in the tropics. I feel that in a way, this vacation has let me share with him some of the best memories of that faraway place and time.
What's a stick for? Hitting things, of course!

Comments

Vicki Carroll said…
May you have other opportunities to share with him these good memories, and make new memories that he *will* remember! <3
9:24 PM
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