Voila, the seventh edition of our Very Rookie Summer series!
Jessica is a rookie mom deep in the middle of her first year in Alabama. Her sidekick is six-month old Holden (great name!). She chronicles their adventures at her blog, Mother of a Homegrown Kid.
As a new mom getting the baby out of the house isn’t the scary part. I love packing him up and driving around. It’s the out in public part that worries me. I never know when he might have a meltdown or an explosive diaper. We’ve been taking him out to eat with us since he was two weeks old without any problems but suddenly at five months he became a different baby in public.
Instead of quietly observing the world around him, he wants to be a part of it. He wants to play and show strangers that he can sit up (mostly) on his own. He wants people to smile at him and he wants to interact with the world around him. His dad isn’t worried about these things at all. His dad faces things head-on and so I am following his lead, putting on a brave face, and going on adventures.
Zoo Babies
We have been on several this summer including a trip to the zoo and a day at the lake. I think I enjoyed the zoo more than Holden or his dad did but he did pay attention to the always entertaining monkeys and several large birds. I particularly enjoyed a mother and daughter pair of elephants and the family of giraffes.
Mama and baby elephant
It was really neat to watch how animal mothers interact with their offspring. I’ve never paid much attention before but I found myself getting teary-eyed comparing animal mother and baby pairs.
My zoo baby
Holden fell asleep about halfway through the zoo but we continued on in the heat and really enjoyed the day. Wearing him around added to the heat but I think he liked being higher up than he would have been in a stroller. He was also comfortable in a new environment having me so close.
Lake Swim
Our latest venture was to the lake for a swim. Holden’s first ever swim to be exact. I was a little nervous but mostly excited about swimming and spending a family day at the lake. We bought a float that wasn’t nearly as cool as it looked on the box but served it’s purpose for the day. I covered the baby in sunblock and passed him over to his dad to introduce him to the water.
He absolutely loved being in the water and in his float
To our surprise he immediately smiled, laughed, and kicked his little legs! We had so much fun floating him around and later playing in the shallow water. He splashed and laughed most of the day. It was great and I’m glad we went. We’ll definitely be swimming a lot more this summer.
I’m looking forward to the rest of our summer and hoping that we find many more adventures that we’re brave enough to try!
Related Rookie Mom Activities:
Activity #96: Go swimming
Activity #257: Meow, bark and tweet at the pet store (a free alternative to the zoo for little ones!)
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