Here's Betsy of Fluffy Windover's Diary with this week's Toddler Thursday:

We are heading to the beach this weekend with Edwin. This will be his third trip to the beach. It’s amazing how much young children change from year to year.

On his first visit, he was 11 months old and still a few weeks away from walking. He loved crawling around on the sand, chasing seagulls, and splashing in the surf.

Last year, at 21 months, he was cautious about the water and very sensitive to the bright sun. He enjoyed early morning beach time, but once the sun got high, he wanted nothing to do with the beach. We hung out at the pool and took lots of stroller walks instead.

This year, at almost three, he’s more rambunctious and bold. He’s a completely different kid from last year: he’s no longer napping, he’s potty trained, and he wants to run, climb, and throw things. I’m hoping he’ll really let his hair down and have fun at the beach. He will also have 10 older cousins there to play with, so that should help him let loose.

In case he is still too sensitive about the sun to want to spend much time at the beach, we’ll need to find some other activities for him. I really can’t see him getting into a whole game of mini golf (I am picturing him swinging the club at innocent bystanders and kicking golf balls all over the place). And antiquing with a toddler is probably out. He might like the arcade, though. He could throw those skee balls to his little heart’s content. Now just to make sure he throws them at the targets, and not all over the arcade.

What does your toddler like to do at the beach?