Luna rode her first wave at age 10 months. Recently she’s started surfing while riding on my back. It took her a while to feel comfortable on the surfboard and I never wanted to push her. Some days she’s begging me to “surf with mama”, other days when I offer she says “not today,” and that’s fine. I wanted to keep the same philosophy with my son, and didn’t have a particular timeline in mind for when I would get him on a board.

Last week the waves were very small, nearly flat. We were spending long mornings at the beach during the women’s surf yoga retreats that I run called Surf With Amigas. On the last day of the retreat Soleo was getting a little fussy sitting with me on the sand. He had a new swim diaper and rash guard that hadn’t even been used yet, so I pulled off the tags and put him in it to take him down to the water’s edge. As soon as his little feet the water his fussiness disappeared. He was happy and splashing.

The waves were so small that I decided to try him on a board, even though he’s not even 4 months old. I asked a couple of our surf instructors to help. One of them grabbed the same board that Luna used for her first ride, the other a camera. We waded out into knee deep water, I sat on the board and then she pushed us into a teeny tiny wave. It was so small and we were in such shallow water that we went really slow and the fin was dragging in the sand. All very safe for his first experience. He loved it! He was looking around with interest and when the ride was over he was tapping his little feet on the board with excitement.

Once she saw little brother doing it, Luna came running even though she was wearing her favorite “party dress” and not swimwear. She jumped on the board too. It was a little tricky to hold both of them at once, but we rode a little wave with the 3 of us on there together.

I’m enjoying cuddling the sweet little guy and know that he will turn into a rampaging toddler soon, but I am looking forward to the days that we’ll have all surfing together as he gets bigger.