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Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Monday, December 21, 2009 9:47 PM
My husband goes into the bathroom to draw a bath for our son, and as soon as he hears the water running, Blaise makes a bee-line for the tub. He pulls himself up on the edge and nearly topples in, so desperate is he to reach the water with his outstretched hands.
We take pity on him and get him into the bath while it’s still being filled, and he takes position by the faucet, his face only a few inches from the deluge. Fat dimpled baby hands flick through the streaming water. Within seconds he looks as though he’s been swimming, his face covered with droplets. He’s thrilled.
When Blaise is in the bath, one of us must kneel by the tub the entire time, arms outstretched to catch the baby when he topples. He concentrates on trying to stand up over and over again - toppling doesn’t seem to deter him - and to splash as much water out as he possibly can. I think maybe he sets himself a goal of ending bathtime with more water out of the tub than in it!
Last night we gave Blaise and Camilla a bath together, and took him out first to get him into his pajamas. He wailed from the moment we lifted him out of the bath, through being diapered and dressed, until we finally released him. At that point he crawled back into the bathroom, pulled himself up on the tub, and leaned over to splash one hand in the water. He turned and grinned at me, all sign of his tears completely gone.
The kid loves the bath. It’s a surprise to us, because our daughter has always been a reluctant bather. Blaise cries when you take him out of the bath; Camilla used to cry when you put her into the bath. Over the three years of her life her hatred of baths has waxed and waned, but I expect the struggle with her will continue for many years to come.
So we’ve got one child who thinks baths are the Worst Thing Ever and one who things they’re the Best Thing Ever. If nothing else, it keeps life interesting.
What’s the bath situation at your house?
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Our first son loved the bath. It was a nightly ritual for us to give him a bath and then a feed just before bed.
Boy were we shocked when son number 2 came along and hated the bath with a big capital H.
Bath time was so stressful with him that I only bathed him every other day.
These two boys are now 18 and 16. I cannot remember any of the other children hating the bath like Sam. I hope the baby I am expecting in February will like the bath too.
Therese, I had to laugh at “I only bathed him every other day.” You’re a stronger woman than I am! With bath-hating Camilla, we’d go as long as possible between baths and only give her one when she got really dirty. On one particular occasion I remember she went NINE days without one. I’m impressed that you were dedicated enough to keep bathing a bath-hater so often!
My 23-month old son has absolutely loved the bath since he was a couple of months old. Even as a newborn, he tolerated it without screaming the way most newborns do. He also loves taking showers with his Daddy, which is a huge timesaver for Mom!
My almost-two daughter Sophie thinks that baths are the best thing ever. Even mention the word and she’s stripping off her clothes and dumping her toys into the tub. But she used to think they were the worst and the entire bath time was one long scream after another. It changed literally overnight. One day she was hating it and then suddenly she was fine. Bella our three year old has gone back and forth between loving baths and hating them and merely tolerating them.
When you said that he leans over the edge & almost topples in you reminded me of when DS#2 about 18 months & actually did that one day…fully clothed. His big brother was already in the tub & we were starting to get him ready to go in too, but he just didn’t want to wait. Thankfully the water wasn’t too deep, he didn’t hit head on the bottom, & I was right there to catch him. He thought it was fun, so from then on we had to be extra vigilant at bathtime!
Sound like you will have swimmer on your hands!
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