'Can a baby eat too much watermelon?' I typed into Google on day three of our last minute autumn break to Crete. At the end of every meal in the sunshine, she looks around the table searching for it - she knows it's coming! And when she sees Daddy bringing a plate of it towards her she goes wild with excitement - legs swinging, arms waving, and squealing with delight until her 6 little teeth crunch into it. "Mmm mmm mmm" as the juice dribbles down her chin with her latest fix. And so the messiest baby in the restaurant is quiet for five minutes as she tucks into her favourite holiday treat, (loves it even more than her recent culinary adventure, grappling with jelly).
We've had a super holiday week as a little family of three, even despite Flo not understanding that holiday = lie in! It's all blurred into one as we soon got into a daily rhythm, starting with plane spotting with Daddy on her sunrise walks along the seafront before breakfast, (with watermelon). Then our little waterbaby would splash around in the pool chasing her ducks around (these rubber ducks get everywhere!), jumping off the side and swimming under water - practicing for her lessons.
All this exertion was rewarded with a spot of lunch, (followed by more watermelon) before another snooze - this is the life! Afternoons were spent at the beach, where we discovered something else that got those little legs kicking with excitement as much as the fruit ... the sight and sound of the crashing waves! She was itching to wriggle out of our arms and into the water. Her new trick is to wave her arms in the air as she jumps the frothy waves, and then bodysurf with her ducky friends back to the shore for a sneaky ice cream.
She loves the feel of the sand between her little toes and gazes out to sea. We wonder what she is thinking? She indulges me in a few snaps of her rocking her Cotswold Baby Co Super Bibs, before face planting into the sand ... cue pouring bottle of water over her face to clean her up.
Our final day today, and we're all packed ready for the plane journey home - hoping its as good as our outward trip. With a rusksack crammed with snacks, milk, toys and a lifetime's supply of baby wipes, we were prepared! A fellow passenger mum offered me £50 for Flo's (plastic) iPad. "The battery's dying" I reply. "I'll make it £100 then!" - very tempting!
I used to shudder when I boarded and saw babies near our seats. Now I smile a polite 'sorry' as Flo splats a wet wipe onto a bald head as we pace up and down the aisle. And I didn't even begrudge my promotion to toilet monitor as I sway her to sleep in her carrier at the back of the plane singing 'Coming round the mountain'. So wish us luck folks!
For now I have one more afternoon on the beach for a last fearless wave jump and laughing as my little watermelon-cruncher sings her new holiday word "Mama Mama Mama" :-)