The Big Scary Bath Tub: Part One

Since Sadie was about a week and a half old she has loved her baths.  The first few involved screaming and crying, but by her fourth bath she was smiling and happy and now it's one of her favorite parts of the day because we always sing "Rubber Ducky" before, during and after bath time (and Rubber Ducky is the one song that always makes her smile).  

We got one of those cute little bathtubs with the super helpful hammocks that adjusts as the baby grows, but even with the hammock Sadie, with her rather, we'll just say "healthy" size, barely fits.  She's so tall that her feet hang over the end although she's not quite steady enough to sit up without the hammock.  

So the other day I had an idea that seemed brilliant at the time.  I put on my bathing suit and took her in my parents big jacuzzi bathtub.  I'd got the water just right before hand, not too deep and not too hot and had her little towel and rubber ducky right by the tub.  

You have to understand that Sadie's gone in swimming pools before and she's never made a fuss at all.  She usually holds onto me really tightly, but when we've gone swimming she's seemed to enjoy herself.  Apparently I didn't realize exactly how frightening the bath tub could be.

Within ten seconds of touching the bath water Sadie started to whimper.  I adjusted her and made sure she felt secure, but the whimper quickly turned into a sob and then an all out blood curdling scream.  She seemed pretty certain that I was going to leave her in the bathtub by herself.  I lifted her out of the water so only her feet were touching, and she started to kick her feet (and continued screaming at the top of her lungs).  

I'm not giving up on the big bathtub idea, which I think she will someday really enjoy, but we are taking baby steps.  Next time we'll try it with her little bath and the whole troop of rubber duckies.  And hopefully things will go better!