So, poor Julia fell head first, fully clothed, into TJ's bath a couple of weeks ago. She seemed to be fine with it, until it was time for her to take a bath again.
She screams and cries like it was the end of the world when we give her a bath now. When it's time to put her into the tub, she clutches on with a ninja grip. Once her fingers are pried off, she stands up, holding on to the side of the tub and lets out cries that I haven't heard since she was an infant, all while looking up with pitiful eyes. "Help me, help me!"
I can't take it anymore, I feel so badly for the little girl, so three days ago, I decide that she is going into the bathtub every night, she has to get over this. Set up the cd player, play lullabies and give her a bottle of warm milk to try to calm her down and she hates it still...clutches, cries and screams.
The next night, I try to bribe her with chocolate. No go. Still with the clutching, cries and screams.
Tonight, I came up with the idea of bubbles. I blew bubbles into the air and made really happy noises. She still stood up in the water, on the side of the tub but I actually managed to get some giggles out of her, as she watched the bubbles float down and pop on her.
Tomorrow the Gazillion Bubble Machine is going to a new home. It's turning from an outside toy to a bathroom toy.
Hopefully all the sadness will subside and she will go back to happily splashing in the tub like she used to do, willingly, giggly and fun.