Rave Bath

My kids get up early. Most days they are both up before, or close to 6 AM. Couple that with school from 8-3 (Tuesday through Thursday - Monday and Friday they have half days), and come 6 PM my kids are on a one way train to Crankville. It is hard enough to get them to sit and eat all their dinner when they are like this, let alone get them to eat and then go upstairs to take a bath.

There is the repeated chorus of "I don't want to take a bath!!" combined with writhing on the floor. Then the protest continues - "Why do we have to take a bath? We just took one yesterday? I don't stink! I am clean! Smell me!! I'm too tired to take a bath!" All too frequently there is some bribery on my part - an extra book, waiting up to see daddy, extra time to float in the tub, fancy bubbles, etc., and usually they take the bait and get in the bath. 

But I have a sure fire way to get them in the tub, no questions asked. 

Glow Sticks.

We had done this last year when we were living in the apartment a few times, but I totally forgot about it, until one of the girls found the glow sticks we had kicking around from Halloween. The past two nights the girls have actually asked to take a "glow stick" bath, each night running upstairs, racing to see who can get undressed first. Damn does that make the evening much more enjoyable!!

For just $19.99 you can buy a pack of 300 of the 8" sticks, on Amazon.com, which are the bracelet size ones, and that will last you a crazy long time. I let the girls have 8 glow sticks a piece each bath and it is plenty. 

 So if your kids protest the bath, get them excited with this simple and cheap idea. 

Just watch out for the crazy college flashbacks - wait, am I the only one that used to dance with glow sticks in college???

Sunday Night Soak

Something incredible happened tonight...something that has never happened before...

Both of my kids were in bed before 6.

6 o'clock, I say!!!

What does a Mama do when her kids are asleep by 6, and her husband is working late (yes on a Sunday)?

Take a bath.

I seriously can't remember the last time I took a bath. Maybe before I had Val? Two years ago??

We have a fairly large bath tub in our master bathroom that serves the sole purpose of collecting the hair that falls out of my head when I blow my hair dry. Yes, I cleaned out said hair before I took a bath tonight.

This tub also only gets cleaned once every 3 weeks by our cleaning ladies, so it gets pretty dusty and hairy over those 3 weeks, so if I ever want to take a bath I have to time it so it is a within a few days of when the cleaning ladies are here so that it is really clean. I know what you are thinking, why don't you just clean it yourself and use it more often? Because by the time I realize I might actually have time to take a bath, I don't have the time to clean the bath tub and take a bath...you get me? Sure you do, you are a mom.

But tonight the kids were asleep more than an hour before they usually are, I don't have dinner to make for my husband and I, the baby shower I have been preparing for in all my spare time was yesterday, I don't have any decision to be made on the house at the moment, and our cable box in the family room is on the fritz...bath time!

Let me make you even more jealous by telling you how great this bath was...

30 minutes of warm bubbly goodness. 30 minutes of uninterrupted silence. 30 minutes of awesome.

I forgot how rejuvenating it can be to soak in silence. Sounds so silly but it is so true! Every day I take a 3-4 minute rushed shower while Val is napping. I might have a minute or two of extra time here and there to stand under the blazing hot water and have a moment to myself (I don't mean any funny business, just me doing nothing), but taking this 30 minutes to myself to relax and unwind (especially after a weekend where I was out on the town until 1 AM both nights - more on that in the next post) was truly heavenly (as my grandmother Ming used to say - she was also a lover of baths.)

I think I might make this a weekly ritual - a Sunday Night Soak. And I think all you other overworked, stressed out Mamas should do the same. Find that 30 minutes at the end of the week to have some peace and quiet to yourself. Have dad put the kids to bed and unwind in a hot bath, close your eyes and soak up the silence. It is awesome.

Bath Time is Fun Time

My daughter is a water baby. She loves the pool, she loves the faucet in the sink, and she especially loves bath time. The heavy excited breathing begins every night when she knows it is time for a bath. Her little arms start flailing and her legs start kicking when we get near the bathroom. I think she would stay in there all day if I would let her!

Yookidoo Flow n Fill Spout

She has loved it since the day we only played with a plastic cup in there, but now that we have all sorts of proper tub toys, it is like Disney World to her. Here are a few of our favorite things in the tub:

- Yookidoo Flow n' Fill Spout: This adorable contraption recycles the tub water so that it flows from a spout that your kids can play with. There are multiple different cups for them to fill and spill, and it is easy for them to turn it on and off. Marlo seems to be obsessed with the cups and will spend most of the bath with one in each hand raising them towards the sky.

- Seaside Pour n' Play: I think we will like this more when we are a bit older, but right now Marlo just bangs these things together, which she seems to love. It comes with the best bath squirters I have seen so far though.

Foam Bath Shapes

- Foam Bath Shapes - These are big fun for all. They float, and when you get them wet they actually stick to the side of the bath. I end up spending time spelling things out for her and getting her to repeat the letters. They can be stored in the mesh bag that comes along with them that can be suction cupped to the side of the tub.

- Green Toys Tug Boat: Now, we actually don't have one of these in the bath right now, but we do use it when we do water play in our weekly Isis classes, and I have always been meaning to get one, so I wanted to give it a shout out, and our BBM approval!

Bath Time: Tubs, etc.

You have a few options when it comes to tubs. For the first few months you will most likely be bathing your baby in your kitchen sink, so you might want to start with a smaller tub (it is nice to stand up and have better use of your arms). Some of our Mama’s forego the tub all together and just line the sink with towels to prevent slippage (more clean up). There is also the option to get a larger tub, and use it in the bathtub (we like the Euro Tub but then there’s the question of where to store it when not using it). Whatever you decide to do just make sure there is something in the tub to make it slip-proof. Once your baby is old enough to sit-up on their own, bathing them in the actual bathtub (with a slip-proof mat under them) is the way to go. The only real opinion us Mamas have when it comes to tubs is NOT to get a collapsible tub.

As for bath time accessories, you won’t need much until they are old enough to play with something. For that age we like the oldy-but-goody rubber ducky and the Munchkin cups. And for baby wash, we are all fans of the classic Johnson & Johnson baby wash – your mom used it, the hospitals use it – it never goes out of style!