Sunday, November 9, 2008

The First (Almost) Cry-Free Bathtime

Tonight was monumental.  Tonight I gave Davie her first bath that was mutually enjoyed by both parties.  

It. Was. Awesome.  . . . and what's funny is that I don't think she really loved it that much, but she didn't cry.  And that is what counts.

I made a $6 purchase at Wal-Mart that made all the difference.  It's just a little mesh cradle thingey that you can put down in the bathtub.  It keeps most of her body in the warm water, but her head out.  I also got one of those little cups with the flexi-side thing so you can rinse their hair out without pouring it all over their faces.  Another thing that helped was I put a washrag over her belly that was sticking out and everyonce in awhile I'd pour water over it to keep her warm.  That child hates being cold.  

But I think above all of these little purchases, the main thing that helped our bathtime situation was our pre-bath conversation.  I reminded Davie of all the other bathtimes where she cried and screamed and hated me, even though I kept trying different things to please this child.  I reminded her of the trip we made to Wal-Mart to get these new gadgets.  I reminded her that I have never lost hope that one day we would have joyful bathtimes.  And I asked her that if she STILL didn't like the bath, could she at least pretend like she did, as to not hurt my feelings and make all of my efforts feel wasted.  And being a sensitive child, she felt my desperation and decided to go easy on me.  

But when I picked her up out of that bathtub and she felt the cooler air hit her little body, all bets were off.  It didn't last too long though.  I wrapped her up, dried her off, gave her a pacifier, and then we were able to really enjoy our nighttime baby massage.  

Ah.  Things do get easier as we go along.  I was thinking today, I have really only known this child for 10.5 weeks now.  We are still really getting to know each other.  I mean, there has never been a person that I knew for less than 3 months, that I knew all of their likes and dislikes and their schedules and their temperament.  So I'd say we are doing pretty good.

2 comments:

Melinda said...

Did you buy the Tub Cub? That is what we pack when we are staying the night away from home. Have you ever tried leaving the water running a little? Gracie didn't like her bath at first and at the time we had a water pressure problem so you could leave the water running forever and it wouldn't fill up the tub much so we left it on during bathtime and she was fascinated by the sound I guess.

Pascha said...

hey girl....try taking a shower with her instead

gabriel loves to take a shower and is fascinated with the water running on him

good luck, pascha