Mental Cobwebs

Bath time has always been my duty, and despite the some annoyances I enjoy it. Mostly it involves filling the tub, dumping the toys out and then letting Emmy play for at least an hour while I sit on the toilet (not using it) and get some writing done. After awhile I quick wash her hair and body and get her out, though, I still have to almost force her to get out.

She's told me on multiple occasions that she wants to live in the bathtub. I tell her she wouldn't be able to sleep and she acts like she's sleeping. I tell her it's morning and she has to make breakfast, so she designates part of the tub as the kitchen and pretends to make food. After an hour or more the water that I purposely made quite warm has turned cool, but it always takes convincing to get her out of the tub.

We recently bought her a bathtub paint set, which basically amounts to extremely watered-down paint and some crappy foam brushes. It also came with a stencil of a heart, and the first time she used it I wiped it off the edge of the tub when I went to wash her. It was like I'd stabbed a puppy in front of her. She was screaming "I made that heart for you!" and balling her eyes out. I felt so terrible. I grabbed her and hugged her, soaking my shirt, and told her I didn't know and we could make another one. She calmed down and we painted together.

Sometimes she drives me crazy when she insists on filling up toys with water while they're on the edge, inevitably dumping water out on the floor, but I'm sure I'll look back on bath time with fondness.