Bath Time with Logan

I am somewhat notorious for not bathing my children frequently. It's not that I don't value cleanliness. It's just that  I find the task somewhat difficult, stressful and time consuming with effects that last hardly an hour. It also has something to do with Logan HATING baths. I don't know how this happened. One could argue that it's due to his lack of regular exposure to a tub full of toys and water. However, Schaeffer has had the same exposure and loves bath time so I'm not convinced by that argument. And during the summer months Logan never seemed to have an issue with pools and playing in water. But sometime this past fall he developed an intense disliking for baths. Bath time goes something like this. I go upstairs to get the water ready. The kids hear the water and make their way upstairs, Logan is always last. By the time he gets upstairs the other two are already splashing away. Logan comes into the bathroom with wide eyes and a bit of excitement. He comes up to the side of the tub and looks in. He stands there. He seems to be enjoying himself and seems to be interested in what his brothers are doing. He lets me get his clothes off but after that if I make any move that he could interpret to be me putting him in the bath, he turns and "runs". When I finally do put him in the tub he starts screaming dramatically and crying hysterically and he immediately starts to climb out. He's big enough now he can get his knee on the top of the edge of the tub and work his way out. He absolutely will not sit down, if I can even get him to bed to force him to sit, he immediately stands back up, still screaming. For now I don't force that issue. I just let him stand and scream while I hold him in the tub and scrub him down with soap and water. So that is our normal bath time with Logan. The last bath they had however, went a little better. I don't know what made the difference, but Logan actually was in the bathtub with his brothers without screaming. He still would not sit. He was still very unsure about it. But after sitting on my lap watching his brothers I was finally able to ease him in. I started by just sitting him on the edge while I held on tightly. Then I poured a water on his toes. he yanked his feet up under him as much as he could. But he let me hold him there on the edge. After a bit I eased him into the water. He seemed like he really wanted to play like his brothers were, if he could just get past the water. After he stood and played for a few minutes, I tried to sit him down. He would have none of that. So he had a standing bath and for the first time in a long while all the boys were in the tub together and no one was crying. Perhaps, if we just aim for baby steps, eventually he will be as excited about baths as the other two.

Sitting in the security of my lap watching his brothers play. This is as close as he happily gets to the bathtub and that's only if he is confident I'm not going to try and put him in the tub.