Baths are fun. You get to splash around in the water. You can play with cool toys like your tugboat. We blow bubbles. And I amuse myself by doing crazy things with your hair:
But baths take a lot of time. I've got to fill the bathtub, let you play in the bathtub, drain the bathtub and wash out the bathtub every day. And while I love playing with you during bath time, I also have to bathe your sister now, so I'd like your bath time to go a little more quickly. Enter showers!
Once you learned how to stand on your own, I tried making you take a shower multiple times and it never went well. Even though you like playing with the sprinklers at the playground, standing under the shower head in our shower scared the bejeezus out of you. You screamed and cried and tried to frantically climb out of the bathtub. And this is exactly what happened a few days ago when I again tried to make you take a shower. I even stood in the shower with you but you started freaking out before I even turned on the water, clinging to my leg, jumping up and down and shouting (rather dramatically), "I can't do it, Mommy! I can't do it! I can't dooooo iiiiiiit!" But I knew you could because you're such a big boy, so I forced you to. Daddy got in the shower with you and held you while I soaped you up and then rinsed you off, all the while shouting words of encouragement over your cries (not sure how many of them you heard, though). When we were done, I wrapped you in your Elmo towel, hugged you tightly, told you how proud of you I am and gave you a Thomas the Tank Engine sticker for being so brave.
The next few nights, I put you in the shower and you definitely did not have a good time. You cried, tried to squat down in the tub and kept insisting that you "can't dooooo iiiiiiit!" But you did do it every night despite your fear and you got a Thomas sticker each time as a reward. Then today, you did a complete 180 and couldn't wait to get in the shower! After I took you off the potty, you eagerly climbed into the tub and giggled and goofed around while you showered. After I turned the shower head off, you triumphantly stuck your left arm up in the air and shouted, "Ta-da, look at me!" Then you said, "Mommy, Thomas sticker?" Yes, sweetie, you get a Thomas sticker for taking a shower like a big boy!
Love,
Mom
No comments:
Post a Comment