Archive for February, 2009
Bath Woes
The other night Natalie was adamant about not taking a bath. After a 45-minute screaming tantrum, she finally agreed to a dry bath*. We can’t really figure out why Natalie is freaked out about taking a bath. It wasn’t that long ago that we could entice her into the tub. The night after the dry bath, she actually seemed excited about taking a bath and even ran to the bathroom when it was time. As soon as the last article of clothing came off, she started crying and saying she didn’t want to get in the tub. We feel really torn…on one hand we don’t want to traumatize her, on the other hand, we don’t want to reinforce her tantrums by giving in to them. It took two of us to get her in the tub that night because Natalie’s abs are so unbelievably strong! I was holding her shoulders and Chris was holding her legs and she would not bend. She was stiff as a board—I swear it was like trying to get a cat into a cage. We finally did get her in the bath for a quick wash up. She screamed the whole time.
We can’t figure out the right course of action…We’re not sure if we give her a bath every night she will get more used to the routine, or if by insisting on a nightly bath is setting us up for a nightly power struggle and torture session. Should we back off for a while and hope that she gets over whatever has suddenly made her totally adverse to bathing? Or will waiting mean that her fear will just grow and be make bathing more traumatizing for all of us?
Today I had the idea of taking Natalie to Toys r Us** to get her a doll that she could take in the tub. We decided on this one, with the green bunny outfit. When we got home, Natalie was very excited about taking her new doll out of the box and giving her a bath.
She said, “I have to wash the baby’s armpits. Then I have to show her how to lean her head waaaaay back and shut her eyes tight, just like I do!”
I whispered to Chris, “I’m a genius!!”
But, of course, it wasn’t that easy. All was well until we took off her diaper and then she refused to get in the tub. We thought she looked conflicted, like she really wanted to get in and have fun, but was afraid or uncomfortable for some reason she can’t articulate. Since the diaper coming off seemed to be the impetus to her becoming distressed, I offered her a swim diaper. She happily put it on and got right in the tub. But she wouldn’t sit down, just stood and splashed for a while. We decided not to push it, so that she would have a positive memory of being in the bath.
Our theory is that she has some sort of infection or irritation that makes sitting in the water uncomfortable or painful. I’ll be calling the doctor first thing Monday morning.
*As frustrating as this issue has been this week, I think the photo of Natalie and Chris in the tub with no water is one of the funniest we’ve taken in a long time.
**We’ve never been to Toys r Us before. It’s a terrible place. Natalie was so overwhelmed by all the toys and lights that she wondered from aisle to aisle like a zombie. We did, too.
Don’t Believe Everything Natalie Says!
Natalie: Mommy, are you blowing you nose?
Me: Yes, I am.
Natalie: Because you have boogies in you nose?
Me: Yes, I have boogies.
Natalie: Mommy, when you sneeze it makes boogies ALL over me!
She’s a Natural Didgeridoo Player!
When she gets big enough, we’ll start her practicing on a real didgeridoo. Yes, we actually already own one.
New Trick from nataliecaroline on Vimeo.
“I got a Nikon camera, I love to take photographs…”*
After months (months!) of research and endlessly reading reviews and comparing the specs of various cameras, Chris finally did his part to stimulate the economy and bought us a nice new Nikon D60. We’ve only had it two days and already I’m in love. The quality of the pictures (especially indoors) is significantly better than our old camera:
* Just in case you’re not a Paul Simon fan (really, are there people who aren’t?) that’s a line from his song Kodachrome. One of my favs.