Bath time

Sept 25

Raj had a lot to do after work this evening, so he asked if I could give Lilly her bath tonight.  Are you kidding? I'd love to! Shawn jumped at the chance to "help" me, too.

Baths are normally Raj's territory, which I sometimes eavesdrop or spy on, but I try not to infringe on this special  time. On the other hand, Lilly hasn't exactly  been a huge fan of baths, so I think Raj might have been relieved that I'd take care of it tonight.   (A combination of being hungry and/or tired tends to complicate the limited time that Raj has with her in the evenings during the week.)

 

Lilly showed some apprehension at my bathtub skills at first, but I distracted her with a few of Shawn's  bazillion bath toys and she relaxed from there.  Shawn was eager to get her more toys and help get her sudsy (I think he was itching for the opportunity to gently rinse the soap from her hair - or dump a bucket of water over her head! But, I distracted him and moved on quickly.)  Baron anxiously stood guard tub-side.  I was left with very little room between him and Shawn perched on the toilet seat, but we got the job done.

We ended with a massage, which Lilly often gets agitated about (I'll never understand it), but tonight, she actually seemed to enjoy. After warming up in pjs and topping off with a Mommy milk night cap, she fell fast asleep.

Afterwards, Shawn did a great job getting ready for bed tonight.  Until... he got tangled in his zip-up footie pajamas as he was trying to undress to pee.  Standing directly in front of the toilet, he managed to get more pee on his underwear, pjs, and self than in the actual pot! Arg.  So, I tossed him into the shower, too.  

At first, Shawn fought me pretty hard about the shower. (He normally takes baths and had just taken one last night.) But try as he might, once I turned the water on, he didn't have much choice but to get wet! Moments later, he had gotten over his obstinacy and was having fun  stomping in the shower puddles and playing shower-basketball. I was impressed that he actually went along with my coaching to soap up and even wash his hair! (The few times he's taken showers before, I've needed to be much more hands on, especially in washing his hair.) Eventually, I needed to turn the water off, in spite of pleas for "just a few more minutes, Mom!" Unlike Lilly, Shawn has always enjoyed post-bath/shower massages. So, we made sure to dry quickly to get to the good part! Then he jumped into his pjs. (We'll skip over a little tiff during toothbrushing) ...and he hopped into bed so I could read 'Where the Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak.

While we were reading, Raj came home and looked exhausted from his day. Aside from a kiss goodnight to Shawn, I feel badly that he didn't see the kids at all today. I'm glad I was able to take care of baths for him. (I had fun doing it - shhhhh!)