bathageddon

I just want to remember this.

Last night Kyle had his first class of the semester, so I had the girls.  I cooked dinner, fed them, and whisked them away upstairs for bath.  Abby was excited about the bath - I didn't know if Elizabeth would go for it or not as she'd been awake for 4 hours, which is double her normal limit.  I decided to risk it because they both really needed one. 

I get the water going, I get them undressed, I get E in the tub and then Abby.  All is well.  Then - THEN I had the audacity to put WATER on Abby's hair.  Oh my sweet terrors - she freaked. Just screamed.  I probably could have chopped off an arm and had the same reaction.  Of course, the instant Abby starts crying, Elizabeth is all red faced and tear-ridden as well. 

I asked Abby what was wrong and she kinda mumbled something about she didn't want a bath.  Well, sorry sweetie, we're here.  I washed her hair anyway.  She screamed the whole time.  Screamed isn't strong enough a word - shrieked, perhaps.  She tried clawing her way out of the tub.  I was simutaneously keeping Abby in the tub, washing her hair, scrubbing her with soap, washing E and listening to my ear drums ring to near bursting point with the high pitched shrieks and screams and cries around me (which, of course, all echo in the bathroom 10fold)

It washed both kids in about 4 minutes. I yanked Abby out of the tub, and sat her on her potty because she was dripping wet and I needed to deal with E for a second before I could dry her off.  Of course, This sent Abby into a whole new stratosphere of screaming.....which then sent E into a new tizzy.  I dried and diapered and dressed E, then put Abby's robe on and told her to go to her room.  Which she did - wailing the whole time.  

The *second* Abby left to her room - Elizabeth looked up at me and grinned the biggest grin.  As if to say "Good grief, what was HER problem?"

I took my time swaddling and feeding Elizabeth for bed because I was still pretty upset with Abby and I figured the cool down time would be good for both of us.  She cried in her room for about 20 minutes until I was done and E was asleep. 

I walked in and Abby just looked at me - unsure of what the next move would be.  I told her to lie down so I could get her a diaper and PJ's.  She did.  Then I brushed her hair for about 5 minutes and neither of us said anything. It was just quiet.  It took me until then to not be mad at her any more. When we were both calm, I picked her up and put her in my lap.  She took this as a sign that it was safe to talk again and said "Mommy not happy.  Abby cry in bath and mommy not happy"

We talked about why I wasn't happy and why Abby wasn't happy.  We talked about what caused it and what a better course of action would have been.  When we were done talking through it - we talked about it again, and then one more time.  I apologized for getting upset with her and I asked her if she was happy now because mommy was happy now too.  Abs says "No, I'm still sad"  So I asked her why and she says "Abby's sad because I scared wizzabeff and make her cry too"  As she told me that part, she started to tear up again and her chin started quivering.   So.  We talked some more until she felt better. 

Then, we read books.  She had a stack of new books and we read all of them - we read for about 45 minutes.  She was very happy to be reading so long.  Usually bedtime consists of 2-3 books, but last night, we read closer to 10. 

There was one book about fractions and decimals and percents (not age appropriate, obviously, but she liked the pictures and numbers).  She was looking at a page that said "8%" and she says "Look!  It's an eight, circle, line, circle"  So - I explained that it was a percent sign and that it said "eight percent" After that, she had a lot of fun finding all the percent signs.  Although, she says it like "PERcent"  It was still cute to hear her "read" all the numbers and signs. 

So.  Anyway.  

It was a chaotic crazy bath time.  Worst to date in fact.  And because of that - and because it morphed from terrible and traumatic to calm and loving - I wanted to remember it.