Bath Time Fun

Bath Time Fun

Bath time provides an excellent opportunity to clean your baby, spend some time with her, and give her a chance at some all around good fun. I love bath time.

Most little ones seem to enjoy it. My kids did. My youngest son absolutely loves it. We have a bucket with cheaply made plastic army men, policemen, firemen, and assorted vehicles. He takes them into the tub with him. When he was smaller he had duckies and other goofy looking bath toys acquired from a half dozen stores and shops.

We fill the tub up and add one of a dozen choices of bubble bath. For a time he could not resist a new bottle of bubble bath mix. If he saw a bottle on the shelf that he did not recognize I was informed that we needed it. At one point we had a dozen and a half partially full bottles. My older son likes bubble baths to, so the stuff all got used up eventually.

So when Peanut came home from the hospital I had images in my head of bath time fun and how great it would be. She would splash around. She would play with bubbles. Her love for daddy would grow ten-fold overnight.

But you can’t dunk newborns in the tub, or the sink, or even their own special baby bath. I dutifully waited for her cord to fall off. She got scrubbed with damp soft hand towels. I used lightly soapy slightly warm water.

The soap and shampoo were both tear free. Neither was tested on animals. Little girls don’t like people torturing bunnies after all. I assume. Actually I’m not sure but its not worth the risk of her hating me for washing her with a product that hurt furry little critters

Anyway I waited and scrubbed her with towels and waited some more. Finally it was time for her bath. We had gotten a baby bath at a consignment store for seven bucks. I bought this when my wife was still pregnant.

I don’t think she was pleased that I had purchased a used, beat up, and clearly discount version of a tub for her precious little angel. It seemed like a bargain. Bargains have gotten me into trouble before.

She had bought a really nice one for our first son. It cost over thirty dollars ten years ago. It was quite nice, really sturdy. The thing didn’t drain though. It had a drain hole with a plug to close it. But when you opened the plug to drain it the thing didn’t work right. I hated giving the boy a bath in it. He quickly outgrew it.

Somehow it got placed in the garage in a space away from the other baby stuff. So when my wife gave her baby stuff to a friend who was pregnant the bath didn’t go away. We didn’t need to buy one when she got pregnant again. I think she would have preferred to buy a new bath but my arguments won out. This was one of those fights where by winning you actually lose though.

I had baby’s tub ready. (I feel bad now, three months later. I really should have bought her a pretty frilly tub instead of a beat up old one.) We were ready. The tub was full of warn, not hot, water. Very comfortable really. I had her soaps ready. I got her ready and we went over to the sink. I put her in, remember ten-fold love, and.... She started bawling.

She was screaming. There were these sad little tears running down her cheeks. She was looking at me like I was a monster who eats babies for lunch. I was absolutely horrified. This had gone all wrong. A magical moment had turned into a nightmare.

She got her bath. Afterwards we had a bottle and she calmed down. Not sure what to do the best course seemed to be I decided to pretend it never happened. (My wife will find herself learning of this about the same time you do.)

The next day I almost didn’t give her a bath I was so concerned over what might happen. But I did, and man was that the right decision. She did a complete 360 in twenty four hours. She went in the tub without any complaints. She sat there in the water. She was watching the water come out of the faucet while I was washing her hair. I moved it over towards her and she put her little hand under the water and just held it there letting water flow over her arm. This was much closer to the reaction I had expected the day before.

We have had a bath everyday since then. Usually in the late afternoon when she winding down from the day. Over the following weeks she really took to her baths like a duck to water. Now she tries to drink the water when I wash her hair and face. Every bath we have a portion of time devoted to drinking water.

After she gets washed I put some soap under the running water and she gets a bunch of bubbles. She loves to watch them. Sometimes she’ll dunk her hand in them and pick some up. Then she proceeds to shake her hand wildly sending suds all over. This gets a giggle out of her every time. If I’m not careful Peanut will try to put her suds filled hand in her mouth. I guess they look yummy. But non-toxic doesn’t mean it tastes good.

Just last week she decided to kick at the water. Just because she is little doesn’t mean she can’t make a big splash. I got soaked. She thought it was hilarious. Now she kicks at the water every time.

In the long run I was right about the bonding and ever-growing love. It just didn’t work out immediately like I thought it would. We have fun together. Most importantly we have managed to make a mundane daily chore into an exciting adventure.