Splash Park

I definitely would not describe Luke as "all boy". He doesn't embody most of the typical "boy" characteristics that come to mind... instead, Luke is careful, cautious, thoughtful, shy, cuddly, and very sweet.

So, we headed out to our local splash park two weekends ago for some water fun! I thought that this would especially be good for him because the teachers at Luke's daycare told me that on "water day" a few weeks ago, Luke screamed whenever a drop of water touched his body and stood at the farthest corner of the playground away from all the action. We definitely went through a weird phase about a month or two ago where he screamed and cried during bathtime, but just as quickly as it started, it ended about a week and a half later.

So, I'm thinking he may have some issues/fears with water.

When we got to the splash park and started walking in, Luke started saying "no... no..." really faintly. When we walked through the gate, Luke began shouting "NO!! Don't want to!! No!!". Poor sweet boy was so scared!! I don't want to push him to do something that he fears, but I also want to expose him lots of different things and show him that the water is not scary!

Once we got through the gate, I immediately headed over to a bench on the side, and we sat down. For about 20 minutes we just sat there and watched all the other people playing in the water. Sporadically, I would ask Luke if we wanted to get down or go play... and he would furiously shake his head and say "no".

Finally, I put him on the bench and walked out to put my feet in the water. He shyly followed and after a few minutes was curious enough to try to touch the water himself. It was cute.

We spent about an hour at the splash park. He warmed up a bit, but whenever it came to touching the water, he definitely preferred for me to hold him and we'd approach it together.

I see many more trips to the splash park in our future!