The Lengths We Go To

For some reason Evan has developed a sudden fear of the bathtub. He used to love the tub and would fuss when we took him out. But, beginning on Monday, he would only get in after some coaxing (i.e. throwing a handful of balls in the tub and yelling, "Splash, splash, splash.") and he refused to sit down. It isn't just that he wouldn't sit, but he really seemed scared and would try to climb back out of the tub.

Normally Bryan does Evan's bath with him, but he was working late for the first half of the week, so I was in charge. I tried to convince Evan to sit, but nothing worked. So, he'd stand, I'd lather him up, then I'd rinse him down.

On Thursday Bryan was home in time to give Evan his bath. I explained the new turn of events and told him I'd just been letting Evan stand. We both wanted to show Evan everything was "okay," so Bryan WILLINGLY VOLUNTEERED to get in the bathtub with Evan. This from the man who for the past seven years of our marriage has referred to any bath I've ever taken as "wallowing in my own filth." I've never seen Bryan take a bath and the two times I foolishly suggested he take a bath to ease an aching back, he looked at me like I was crazy and reminded me of how disgusting baths are. Apparently even a shower before a bath can't remove enough of one's own filth to make a bath tolerable.

But on Thursday night, Bryan put all this aside to help ensure Evan would enjoy his bath again. The good news is, IT WORKED! Bryan got in and started playing with the toys. Evan stood for a while, then sat down. He played and played and Bryan ended up spending far more time than he would have liked in the tub. Evan still wasn't ready to get out, but the water was getting cloudier by the minute and Bryan couldn't take it anymore. Not only was Evan upset he had to get out, he kept trying to get back in. Success!

I have to hand it to Bryan--I know how hard it was for him to hop in the tub with Evan. Good job! By the way--it only took me two days of begging to finally get Bryan's permission to post this story on my blog!