Going to the Pool (and beach and resort) with a Toddler

Y'all recommended a lot of helpful products and considerations for our first family beach resort vacation with an 18-month old. These were the items we used the most with our toddler at the beach and pool (thank you everyone for your recs!).

Rashguard: HL wore this or the short sleeve version to protect his skin every day of vacation. He's on the bigger side of 18 month olds and the 2Ts fit perfectly.

Sunglasses: These rarely stayed on but aren't they so cute? He loved putting them on when he saw us put on our sunglasses and wearing them for 2-3 mins each. These fit his head and make great gifts.

Slip-on Sandals: He LIVED in these, they're so easy to slip on and off - he can almost do it himself. The back strap is adjustable.

Hat with neck cover: To my surprise, he had no issue wearing this in the pool. He usually refuses hats, but I think it being wet (cooling) and giving him shade helped.

Swim trunks: Target has a lot of size/pattern options for under $10, although I did struggle to find trunks in his size that are not blue (a safety tip from a lot of parents was to have them in bright colors so they're easy to find in the water).

Swim diapers: I was confused by the concept of swim diapers and learned a lot on this trip (the hard way). I brought a reusable swim diaper and boy was I glad to have the disposables (sorry, environment!) - I'm not sure where I could have washed a poopy swim diaper at the pool or beach, and putting it back on him while wet would have been a huge pain. We learned that these diapers really do the job while IN the water, they don't provide a lot of protection while walking around/hanging out, so whenever he got out of the water we switched him back to a regular diaper. We had 0 leaks in the pool which was what really mattered. 

Float: This might be the best thing we took with us. He could sit upright in it in the water and he was very relaxed in it. Of course, we were with him at all times while he was floating in it but it is nice to have hands free. It folds up compactly to fit in the bottom of the suitcase and requires minimal inflation/set up.

Swim Vest: He wore this at all times when he was around the water, unless he was in the float. It keeps them upright in the water which surprised him when he was playing around, but this was great to have with us. We practiced wearing it at home so he was used to it by the time he got to the pool and again to my surprise he got excited to put it on any time I pulled it out. 

The Beach Bag

We carried a tote bag (just a regular one because it packed easier than a full on beach bag) around with us that had extra swim diapers, a dry change of clothes, wipes, regular diapers, toys for meal times (a few magnetic tiles and the spinny suction things were the biggest hits), snacks,  a sunscreen stick (I found this the easiest way to apply sunscreen), and his EpiPen.