Ritual Bathing

Peepers is kind of outgrowing his infant bathtub which fits so nicely in our kitchen sink and allows us the opportunity to give him a bath without breaking our backs kneeling over the regular tub. Unfortunately, Peepers weighs about 20lbs. and although he still can't sit up unassisted, he sure can kick the crap out of the water in his tub. Peepers LOVES bathtime. He has it every night just before bedtime and he has never shed a tear over having to sit in that warm water and get 100% of my attention for about 10 minutes. Heavens no. Peepers has, however, found delightful ways to EXPRESS his excitement now....which include splishy-splashing my entire body and half of the kitchen. But he does it with such glee that I don't really mind the nightly drenching. First we prepare the bathwater...get the temperature JUST right, test with elbow. Then we turn off the air and commence with the stripping. Perhaps my favorite part. We take Peepers into the room and take off all of his clothes except his diaper. The first thing to go is his little shirt, which slips over his head and makes his hair all messy. I personally like to leave the shirt halfway off of his head for a sec or two because it makes him look like a fat little nun and that is REALLY cute. Then his little socks are pulled off and boy do those toes LOVE IT! They curl up and stretch and poke at me. And finally I remove his pants. Which are usually striped. Roy hates stripes. He calls them Ringworm Pants. With only his diaper, I pick him up and carry his chubby naked body to the kitchen. Roy holds him up...Lion King style and I remove the diaper. For a split second, Peepers is dangling fully naked. ACK! He has the cutest little butt cheeks EVER! Then we lay him down into the bathtub and commence with the scrubbing and soaping and rinsing. and SPLASHING. After the last of the soap has been rinsed from his long locks, Roy lifts him out of the sink and holds him over it briefly for a drip-dry. Then I wrap him up in the hooded towel and squeeze his soft wet body against me as I carry him back into the room for his dressing. He is so sweet and warm and damp and soft and chubby and PERFECT! First we dry off his face, then all of his limbs, then his torso. Then we towel dry his hair. He likes this part. As his little head shakes with our scrubbing, his face lights up with a HUGE smile. Then all of his limbs are inserted into a sleepsuit and he is subsequently buttoned or zipped up snuggly inside. After having inserted his pacifier, we lay him down and cover him with a blanket, turn on the nightlight, turn out the big light and tip-toe out of the room. Next we have to chase down the OTHER boy who has just exited the shower and is streaking in front of all the mirrors NAKED. He SO loves to look at himself naked. Doing karate chops. I have NO idea what the fascination is with that. It will be a while yet before we get ourselves into bed. So every evening goes something like this...
Cristian its time to get in the shower. Cristian its time to get in the SHOWER. Cristian go GET IN THE SHOWER RIGHT NOW. Put your clothes in the hamper. Cristian you are wasting water. Cristian! Hurry up and get in that shower RIGHT NOW. Cristian are you done yet? Are you done yet? Hurry it up! Did you wash your hair? Did you wash it good? Are you done? HURRY UP! Your towel is right there. Go get dressed. Cristian, get dressed. CRISTIAN. GET. DRESSED. You better GET DRESSED right now. Cristian, its time for bed. Cristian, turn off the TV. TURN OFF THE TV. Go get into bed. I'll be right there. Yes the hall light is on. Yes I'm going to pray. I'LL. BE. RIGHT. THERE. Get into BED. Hurry up. Cristian...I am VERY TIRED and I WANT TO GO TO BED. HURRY. UP. Leave those cards alone, you can look at them in the morning. I said leave those cards right where they are and get into bed! ROY! Thank you for this day that you have given us today Father, thank You for all the blessings that we have received today, dear Lord. We just ask that you keep us safe tonight as we sleep. Help us to have good dreams and keep away the bad dreams. Help us to have a good night's rest and a good day tomorrow. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen. I love you. Go to sleep. Yes the hall light is on. Good night.
And then at last...MY BED. Ah sweet sleep come to me. COME TO ME NOW.