Two Milestones (written last week)
Thursday was Daisy’s one-week birthday. I had been eagerly awaiting this, since it seems significant that I kept her alive one whole week. However, it doesn’t much change the fact that she still seems insanely fragile to me. I can’t believe a person could be so young.
We also gave her her first bath a few days ago, a comical-tragical milestone involving the baby screaming louder than I have ever heard her scream since she was born, and Mom, Mark, and me being extremely flustered and tense with each other, ordering one another to do this and that and stop doing the other. Mom was reading aloud from a Baby Manual on how to give a bath: “Step Five, swab behind the ears. Sarah, have you swabbed behind the ears?” Me: “Mom, I’m already on Step Seven, I can’t go back to Step Five now, please just skip that part!” Mom: “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” Mark: “The thing is for everyone to calm down, just calm down!” Me: “Don’t hand me that, that’s the soapy washcloth, not the rinsing one!” Water sloshing everywhere, the baby screaming and flailing.
There had been some talk of videotaping the first bath. I am glad that did not happen. Also, who would have done the taping? Apparently, it takes three full-grown adults to administer an even semi-effective baby bath. Maybe if two more adults had been helping, it would have gone a little more smoothly. And then all five of us could have collaborated to change a lightbulb.
We also gave her her first bath a few days ago, a comical-tragical milestone involving the baby screaming louder than I have ever heard her scream since she was born, and Mom, Mark, and me being extremely flustered and tense with each other, ordering one another to do this and that and stop doing the other. Mom was reading aloud from a Baby Manual on how to give a bath: “Step Five, swab behind the ears. Sarah, have you swabbed behind the ears?” Me: “Mom, I’m already on Step Seven, I can’t go back to Step Five now, please just skip that part!” Mom: “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” Mark: “The thing is for everyone to calm down, just calm down!” Me: “Don’t hand me that, that’s the soapy washcloth, not the rinsing one!” Water sloshing everywhere, the baby screaming and flailing.
There had been some talk of videotaping the first bath. I am glad that did not happen. Also, who would have done the taping? Apparently, it takes three full-grown adults to administer an even semi-effective baby bath. Maybe if two more adults had been helping, it would have gone a little more smoothly. And then all five of us could have collaborated to change a lightbulb.
posted by Sarah Goss at 11:41 AM
10 Comments:
Nathan (age 4) still screams during bath time. (Esp. when I administer shampoo).
Oh, I sympathize and wish I could say such farce would come to an end after year one. But witness the lunch scene today: I'm outside working and hear child screaming--really screaming. I run inside afraid she's fallen and hurt herself to find husband battling with almost two year old over getting in her high chair for lunch. The next 10 minutes then involves two adults trying to coax small child to sit down and eat--this involves holding her, waving food in her face, and finally convincing her that it would be fun to pull high chair up to the table with no tray to eat like the "grownups." Finally, said two-year old, with big tears sliding down her cheeks to let you know how long-suffering she is, acquiesces. Oh, the drama. Good luck! PS. Adele loved the new picture of Daisy!
She screams now, but in a few years she may become a bathing beauty who loves to relax and read in the bath (well past the prune-stage), much to the dismay of her parents who tell her to stop using up all the hot water!
We shall see... hope the second bath is more relaxing for everyone than the first one.
Wonder how the "wet blanket" method suggested in your class would fly...
I think maybe the bath would have been easier if you had worked on the lightbulb first, no? I mean, bathing a baby in the dark and all ...
Happy belated birthday Daisy :-)
(Sarah, I still have a present coming her way ...)
Heh! Isn't it funny how they scream and cry as if you're killing them when it's the simplest thing? The worst part is how the *tears* leak out of the corner of her eyes, clumping her eyelashes together--so utterly pitiful, my heart breaks every time, even though I *know* I am not torturing her. The tears may be worse than the screams.
Jack hates anything to do with his head. Showering him Sunday night was a scream-fest. And he's 6.
I don't think we ever once swabbed any kid behind the ears. But we're bad parents. :)
If you wash behind their ears, where will the corn grow?
Meg: eeeeeewwww! Well, here's something grosser: I have discovered the importance of cleaning under the chin, cuz that is where the milk dribbles and sort of dries up into these neat little cottage cheese balls.
eeeewww.
y'know, i would have thought she'd love being in a bath because after all, she just came from being immersed in comforting fluids. as it turns out...nahhh. she screams. but my fingers are crossed that she'll like it later, like arie and eiden!
I just learned a good tip from my baby books-- to wash the hair when the rest of the baby is dry. It worked GREAT today. We bathed her, not getting her head wet, and she was calm. Then, when she was all warm and dry in her towel, we washed her hair. No screaming! I guess that hair-washing is the most traumatic part for them, so it was a big mistake for me to start the bath off with that part. This time, she actually seemed to sort of like the water, provided her hair stayed dry. Hmmmm.
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