Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a...Bubble Bath??

Thinking I was being a "cool mom" last night, I offered to let Anna have bubbles in her bath. She nodded enthusiastically to my offer, so after dinner, we unceremoniously stripped her clothes off in her high chair - how on earth did you manage to get rice INSIDE your onesie?? - and marched her into the bathroom. As I poured the bubble mix into the water (it's the vanilla lavender soothing baby wash that I received as a shower gift that I had yet to open as of last night...so much for cool mom), I asked Anna "Isn't that cool?" She marveled at how the bubbles grew as the water churned the mix. I asked her if she wanted to get in and she nodded yes. I took off her diaper - I've learned through experience that this should be removed no more than 3 seconds before she goes into the tub...I've cleaned up too many puddles on the bathroom floor to forget this important tidbit - and plopped her into the tub. Sort of.

She stood there in the small piles of bubbles, absolutely TERRIFIED. I picked up a small handfull of bubbles and tried to show her how to blow them all over the tub wall (which, by the way, TOTALLY counts as cleaning the tub in my book), and put a dab of bubbles on my nose. I showed her how to "chase the bubbles away" by swirling her hands in the water or splashing. She refused to sit down, but that's not uncommon. After a few minutes she started to seem OK with the idea of bubbles, so I, the "cool mom" said "let's put some on your tummy!"

She started shaking and hyperventilating like I've never seen before. She didn't even want to touch the bubbles to get them off of her skin and she was so afraid, she didn't even cry. She just looked at me with panicked eyes and I almost jumped into the tub to hug her and tell her it was OK. Instead I quick grabbed a cup and threw water on them to rinse them off. But that was it. No more bubbles on her. She "chased" them all into the back end of the tub, which was also unfortunately where her floating penguins were playing. She mourned their loss quickly and resumed splashing (cleaning the tub).

No more bubbles. At least not for a while!

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