Bath Trauma

BabyBoy has always hated baths. Screaming, crying, and the need for serious post-bath cuddles have always accompanied his bathing. His older sister always loved baths, and to this day, at the wise old age of 4, I still have to completely drain the tub in order to get her out.

BabyBoy seems to have a new strategy for coping with the "torture", though... apparently, if all your body parts aren't getting wet at once, it's not nearly as traumatic.

Here's how yesterday's bath went:

• I sat him on the edge of the sink, toes in the water. He arched his back and tried to keep everything but the toes out of the water.
• I eased him down into the sink, gently washing his legs at the same time. By the time his bottom was in the water, his arms were straight up in the air.
• I eased him down a little farther, and he finally relaxed enough to get his back and bottom in the water, but, he then stuck his legs and arms straight up in the air and kept them there. No bending.
• Now for the really stressful part... it was time to wash his hair. In his mind, this apparently is a full-body assult, which is best combatted by making your entire body stiff and trying to get your entire body out of the water as fast as possible.
• Finally, we're done... the whole process took less than five minutes, but from the look on his face, you'd think we'd been engaged in this "water torture" for hours. I wrapped him in a fluffy towel and laid him on our bed, where he proceeded to pant and breathe as though he had just run a marathon.

It was sort of like what I imagine it would be like to bathe an octopus... arms and legs sticking up every-which-way. Still, he didn't cry or scream, so maybe his new coping method is working for him. The important thing is that we made it through a bath without crying... and really, is there any sweeter smell than a freshly bathed baby?