Rub a Dub Dub, Two Squishies in a Tub

Ava loves her bath - not necessarily the getting clean part. She could care less. It's the playing part that sends her sprinting up the stairs when we mention bath time. She especially jumps at the opportunity to bathe with her baby brother. Until recently, we still had Jax in the infant tub inside the bathtub. Which, in itself was quite a feat. He looked like a whale in a guppy tank. Anyway, he'd be in his tub and Ava would sit in the regular tub with whatever space was left. She didn't mind the tight fit as long as she got to wash Jax's toes. Well, despite my hesitance, I finally decided to put Jax in the big tub. To be honest, it was just far too hard to clean deep inside all his rolls when he was scrunched up inside a bathtub meant for babies half his size. So, we took the plunge. The first time, we tested out the water sans Ava. I wanted Jax to get used to the big bath without his wiggle worm of a big sister splashing water up his nose. He LOVED it! He sat on his little booty and rocked as hard as he could, making himself slide all around the tub. Then, he'd lay on his back (his favorite) then roll to his tummy, then back to his back, then back to his tummy... you get the idea. The rolling went on about five minutes, until he decided to take a little taste of the yummy bathwater. That's when I put a halt to the rolling.


A few nights later I took a leap of faith and decided to let the world's two wiggliest children bathe together. I filled the tub, making it ridiculously shallow since Jax would be in it. I took a deep breath, put them both in and crossed my fingers that no one would drown, crack their head open on the side of the tub or worse, get soap in their eyes. The first few minutes were great. Ava and Jax sat upright playing with bath toys, Ava explaining each creature to Jax. Jax splashed with excitement, Ava very gently splashed back.

Apparently, my children are smarter than I give them credit for because they were just providing me a false sense of comfort. As soon as I said to myself, "This isn't so bad" the little buggers went bezerk. It started with Jax rolling. Ava, seeing what fun her baby brother was having decided she too wanted to roll. This caused major waves in the bathtub, which caused Jax to lose his balance and swallow massive amounts (okay, that's a minor exaggeration) of water. Okay, I calm them both down, sit them back upright and take another deep breath. Again, sensing I was comfortable, they start rolling. This time, Jax swallows more water - alot more. To be honest, I was pretty scared, it took him a minute to catch his breath. I vow, in my head, never to allow them to bathe together again.

Okay, so that was me being a little dramatic. Of course I'll let them bathe together again. They love it too much. Both had giant smiles on their faces the whole time, with the exception of moments of coughing up water. Just tonight Ava asked if it was bath night. When I told her no she asked, "Is tomorrow bath night? Then Jax and I can take a bath together."

So, I'll get a bathmat for inside the tub to reduce the slippage. I'll do my very best to minimize the rolling and wavemaking. If they're okay, I'm okay. There's nothing better than happy, clean kids -- and in the Kleinman house, the best place to get those is in the bathtub.