When it comes to baths, Rebecca and I usually like to take the divide and conquer approach - she helps the girls upstairs and I help the boys downstairs. Over the years we have found that this approach results in the fewest tears shed (by us and the kids) and the least water damage to our home. Now I am sure that Rebecca must have learned some magic spells from the Harry Potter books she reads to the kids, because when I am away, and she helps the kids with baths on her own, things usually turn out fine. However, when she is away, and I try to do the baths, it is never a pretty picture. No matter how much begging, explaining, or threatening I do, when I head upstairs to bathe Agnes, the boys almost always manage to get more water outside the tub than what is left in it. Often, when I come back down to finish up with them, Ethan blames Christian for the water, who then blames Elliott, and Elliott just looks at me with an innocent smile on his face.
I was expecting today's bath time adventure to be similar, but superhero Julia (7) saved the day. I put the water in the tub upstairs and got Agnes stripped down to her diaper so she would be all ready when I came back up. I then raced downstairs to get the boys' water going and make sure they all got in the tub. Once they were all in I ran upstairs and to my surprise Julia had taken Agnes' diaper off and together they had hopped in. Rebecca has assured me that Julia and Agnes are old enough to stay in the tub on their own as long as I frequently check in on them so I left them for a little bit. When I came back next, Julia was washing Agnes' hair and was doing a great job at it - she was singing a song to her and Agnes was as happy as could be. So I went back to wash hair downstairs and get the boys out of the tub. When I came back up again, Julia had Agnes out of the tub and was gently drying her off. She then proceeded to put on a clean diaper (even putting on baby powder), rub her up with lotion, and then dress her in her pajamas. Agnes was loving all of the special attention from her sister and I loved seeing Julia so kindly help her out.
Julia is my superhero today for helping Agnes in the bath and going out of her way to provide Agnes with the spa treatment.
No comments:
Post a Comment