Lately I have fallen out of the habit of reading Dooce every day, but I checked in yesterday, and I’m glad I did. It seems Dooce has been getting some hate mail recently regarding her non-potty-trained 3-year-old daughter. The Coles Notes version is that her daughter has some pretty severe toileting aversion issues, and so at this point getting her to go at all, anywhere, is a major accomplishment. Who cares whether it’s in a diaper or in a potty.I was thinking about this last night when I was in the shower. With Liam. Although we have managed to sneak the odd bath in here and there, and sponge bathe him now and then in between, he still has a major bathtub aversion. It still puzzles me that he enjoys running upstairs and getting out all the bath toys and filling up the tub so much, and then refuses to get in, instead dragging his pajamas out and asking to have them put on posthaste. Anyway, with Liam overdue for a good scrubbing last night, I decided to take Mandy up on her suggestion to try the shower instead. I think he was a bit baffled about why I was getting in the shower during his bath time, but once he was in too, he thought it was a hoot. He didn’t object at all to being hosed down and shampooed. Having water streaming down his face didn’t bug him one bit. We didn’t even make use of any toys, aside from sticking all the non-slip animals to the floor of the tub first. He found it amusing enough just to be there.
I hope this doesn’t backfire on us. I am not prepared to do this every night, especially when I have some place to go or something to do. Ideally, I would like to steer Liam back toward baths as opposed to showers. In the meantime, though, if this is what works, then this is how we’ll manage. I am all for the elimination of tears and frustration. So maybe we have the bath problem solved, at least temporarily. Now, if we could just do something about the night waking. Liam was up at 4 a.m. this morning, and we are all a little bit bleary eyed today.
(This photo was taken after the Teddy Bear Picnic at Cindy’s house this week.)
2 comments:
Sydney sometimes has a shower too & I acutally prefer it because it is a much shorter affair. We don't get in the shower with her, but scrub her while we are outside the tub & then she gets a couple minutes to just stand under the water. There was a couple of weeks where she only wanted to have a shower & not a bath, but we are back to baths.
I'm glad the shower worked....and there are times it can be faster than the bath. Our tub drains a bit slowly and Emily's usually happy to sit and splash in the small amount in the tub while I get out, grab my towel and get hers ready.
Or, I can get in, knock when I'm ready for her and Daddy will bring her in - then come get her when I'm done.
I'm sure he'll outgrow it...and maybe if you can find a small watering can you can recreate the stream in the bath and rejuvenate his interest.
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