Bathtub Fun ... & The Post-Bath Blues

After getting off to a rocky start the first time, Baby Saunders has started to really enjoy his baths.  Katie Anne and I give him a bath during his awake time in the morning once or twice a week, and he usually spends about fifteen minutes in the baby tub.  Unlike his big sister, he loves to sit in the baby tub and have warm water poured on him.  He doesn't mind being soaped up, and he surprisingly doesn't even fuss when we wash his hair.  Katie Anne loves to stand in a chair beside the sink, fill up a cup with warm water, and pour it over his belly, so it's a win-win situation for both of them.* 

Here's a picture of the little man just relaxing in the tub - with a strategically placed duck stamp to respect your modesty, of course.

See this happy little man?  This is a very different experience from bathing big sister, who screamed from start to finish in the bathtub for about - oh, I don't know ... the first 14 months of her life ... and still periodically after that until she could stand up and take a shower at 2 and a half years old.

However, before you start vilifying me for posting about how much better my son is when compared to my daughter and wondering how much therapy it will take Katie Anne to get over posts such as these ... fear not.  My two precious, angelic children may differ in their love of the bath water, but they both share the same fatal bathtime flaw.

See, it's all good and well to enjoy your bath and have a great time in the water.  But, you know what must inevitably follow all that splashy, clean fun?  Drying off.  Yes, drying off is no fun.  Katie Anne barely tolerated being dried off post-bath, and SJ4 is the same way.  In this picture, he's manning up and attempting to make it through the drying process.

He usually does okay ... just a little fussing, and then mercifully the drying off is over.  

But, the worst is yet to come.  Do you see the product in the far right corner of the above picture?  Yes, that's baby lotion and - according to my children - it is manufactured in a place called Hell by a man named Satan.

Have you heard all that baby advice that a gentle post-bath massage with lotion is relaxing and pleasant for babies?

My two angel darlings beg to differ.

Post-bath lotion and massage time is a 

form

of

torture.

And you know what's even worse than being gently and loving rubbed down with pleasant-smelling (and in the above case nice, organic, so-expensive-Mom-and-Dad-won't-buy-it-so-it-must've-been-a-gift Burt's Bees) baby lotion?

Getting dressed.

Yes, Baby SJ is a pretty easy kid who is usually cool, calm, collected, and rarely busts out the big, serious, eardrum-shattering cries.  But, you want a sure-fire way to piss off the little man with the outrageous 'fro hairdo?

Dry him off, lotion him up, and have the audacity to put a onesie on him.

Just like his big sister.

*It's actually a win-win situation for me as well because Katie Anne is a great helper when we give SJ4 a bath.  She loves to help me gather up all the supplies and take them to the kitchen.  She loves to help soap him up and rinse him off, but the best thing is having her to help rinse his back.  I remember wishing I had a third hand when I'd try to wash Katie Anne without Saunders being here because it really takes two hands to hold a slippery baby.  With her standing by with a cup full of water, waiting to rinse his back for me, it makes bath time much, much easier!  Unfortunately, she does not have a solution for all that screaming.