Splish Splash Extravaganza

Hello Lovelies!

A couple weeks ago Aiden and I went on his preschool trip to Splish Splash Water Park and I had a blast! It'd been quite hot out the days leading up to the trip and I was super excited to get down and dirty and wet.

Little did I know Aiden would have been intimidated by almost all of the rides.

As we walked towards our first ride of the day, mini-water slide, he seemed excited. I thought he would love it because he loves the slides at the playground. But then again, that slide doesn't have water all over it. As we slid down together, landed in the kiddie pool, and got soaked, Aiden began crying. That's when I knew it was going to be a long day!

I took him around the park to show him the different rides. I wanted to see if he would have wanted to go on any of them. He vetoed all of the rides -- the lazy river, the water slides, the pirate ship, the kiddie pool -- everything! But hey, I can't expect more from a 2 1/2 year-old who's never been to a water park, right? Everything was new and different and he tends to be skeptical and clingy at the beginning of every new experience. It takes him a while to warm up.

As his friends played in the pool and asked him to join them, we sat poolside in the lounge chairs and every few minutes I encouraged him to go in the water. No forcing. No stern voice. I just gently asked if he wanted to go in with his friends and he gently responded with a "nope."

The entire time I kept thinking that I should have prepared him better for this experience. I should have read a book or showed him a picture or something. I just told him that we were going to a water park the morning of the trip. Like he knows what a water park is.

He finally made his way to the edge of the pool and put both his feet in the water while I sat there with him.

After a while, he made his way into the pool! Yay! That was at 3:30pm. Unfortunately, we had to get dressed at 4pm. At least he got some swim time in.

Ah well, maybe next year...

Smooches,

SweetAl