One of my most frequently encountered multi-tasking sessions is bath time. I used to be able to put Lily Ruth in her bouncy seat when I was done with her portion of the bath (or if I just needed a quick spritz) but she's too big for that thing now, and she just climbs right out. I also employed the exersaucer on occasion if I needed solo tub time, but now she HATES the exersaucer, so that's out too.
Here's how it's been going: Lily Ruth and I get into the tub. She sits between my knees and we play with bath toys for a few minutes. Then I soap up and rinse off the baby. Then she sits on my tummy while I wash my hair - this gets interesting since there are all kinds of things that she is interested in grabbing :-/ THEN I wash my face really quickly before she freaks out. Done. This gets old. I've been experimenting with other solutions recently. The most popular, yet least successful is the 'Lily Ruth gains naked freedom whilst Mama finishes her ablutions'. This means that I set her little nudie self onto the bath mat while I rinse my hair/wash my face/shave my legs - one of those three, not all! It worked for a while. She would stand at the edge of the tub alternately playing with her bath toys and trying to climb back in. Whatever. She was content, and I had both hands free.
Last weekend saw a new leap in baby cognition as Lily realized that she wasn't in any way physically confined to the bathroom. I set her down as usual, and talked to her as I began to shave my legs. She glanced at me, then took off down the hall with the bath tub plug in one hand. I furiously shaved the rest of my leg so that I could chase after her.
Here's what I found when I rounded the corner:
She had used her highchair to corral all three pets into the corner by the door! Granted, they were all already milling about close to there waiting for me to let them out. Maybe they thought that since she has thumbs, she could be the one to let them out?
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