Friday, December 07, 2007

Baby news

The following story or event in my life is going to be boring for those without children, moderately interesting to those with young children, and thrilling to my mother. I could have emailed her and wrote about what happened last night or even told her on MSM chat. I think, though, that I want to remember and record this for my benefit. Perhaps when I am angry with my son, I could read it and relive it to calm myself down.

My little guy hates having his hair washed. I am not sure if it is the water in his eyes or ears that bothers him most, or perhaps he got a mouth or nose-full once or twice. It’s definitely clear that he hates it, though.

Yesterday, he was having a bath, more for play than any other reason. I was watching him, sitting on the closed toilet lid. We had the door shut to keep the warm moist air in and both were naked.

He started to splash water around and after he got me with a ladle-full, I sat closer to the tub. He poured water over my head and seemed to get the idea of washing my hair.

He poured water over my hair. It took him a long time because, well, he’s a baby and most ladles arrived over my head with very little water remaining. Still, he managed.

Then, he got some shampoo. Actually, he used the closest bottle, which was rinse. One hand kept my head in position so he simply pushed the spigot on the bottle and then scooped up the rinse from the side of the tub.

He was very careful about using washing my hair completely. Firstly, he used about a litre of rinse. After that, he massaged my hair and head for a surprisingly long time. I had to encourage him to go back to ladling water to remove the shampoo and he continued to massage my head as he poured the water.

It was a wonderful ten minutes or so-perhaps not that long, but I felt close to him right up until I had to wrestle him back into clothes. Then the wailing and confrontation with a totally alien consciousness returned.

Perhaps another time I will try to record a minute or so of his washing my hair. I warn you that at least one of us will be dressed, though.
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In other baby news, a certain Gangneung blogger may have to turn in his el-camino for a more family-friendly vehicle as he is now a father. Congrats to Paktheelcamino!

1 comment:

skindleshanks said...

My eldest still has a great aversion to water pouring over his head, so I give him a shampoo after the bath barbershop-style: I set him facing away from the sink on one knee that is up on either the toilet seat lid or the tub. I then cradle his head/neck in my hand and lower him back into the sink, and wash his hair with the other hand. At first he was very concerned about the water, but the advantages of this position are that the position is rather comfortable, while squirming might make your son feel like he might fall (although he won't if you're holding him properly), and your faces are less than a foot apart, so you can reassure and entertain while giving the shampoo. For us, shampoo time is now fun time, although at some point we'll deal with that fear of water.