because someday i might wonder...

this one is mostly for me...because it seems my blog is my "memory" some days...and definitely the place i can look back on. i mentioned it on facebook, but not here i don't think...but kate developed a strange terror-filled reaction to the bath about a week and a half ago...and i do mean TERROR...shrieking, kicking, screaming...absolutely terrified. we have no idea what prompted it...but it has been exhausting. so you can imagine my delight when she agreed to take a shower with her sister this evening. and yes, that is also a new development. the first night of the bathtub horror for kate, i offered her a shower instead...she didn't want one, but elizabeth's ears perked up...and she has been a shower fiend ever since. she thinks it is the coolest thing EVER. she spins and dances and giggles and lets the water pour down on her. it is precious...oh so precious.

kate has watched a few times....and then reluctantly submitted to a super quick bath (fearful and trembling the entire time...ugh...). we did come to the conclusion that the fear is completely related to the drain...and the idea of things going down the drain...like toys and washrags and baby sisters (yep...she did worry quite a bit about jilly going down the drain). and there is no explaining to her that the drain is safe...nope...not one bit.

but tonight was definitely a turning point. she headed upstairs with elizabeth and i...and didn't start crying until i turned the water on. and then she decided that, no, she didn't want a shower after all. rather than trying to convince her, i just decided to let her watch elizabeth...and she did. and finally...after a bit she decided she would, after all, like to try the shower. she cautiously climbed in...stood under the water...and started giggling...i mean, really, really giggling. and i almost cried...with relief.

the fear of the drain is still there. she much preferred to stay on the non-drain end of the shower....and when elizabeth put her washrag down on the floor of the shower kate snatched it up and tossed it out of the bathtub...telling me she didn't want it to go down the drain. but she showered. she laughed. she spun in circles and let the water wash over her. and afterwards, she was so thrilled to go downstairs and tell daddy all about her shower. and i was simply thankful to smell her still baby-soft-ish skin and freshly shampooed hair...and to know that we are perhaps one step closer to the return of joyful bathtime.

and then i kind of got a wee bit teary. my "babies" taking showers...oh my...where did the days of baths in the kitchen sink go...somehow taking a shower seems like a huge milestones in some odd way. oh my!

i really did think that about "where did the days of kitchen sink baths go"....only to walk downstairs and have mike, who was just finishing up lotioning and PJing jillian after bathing her in the kitchen sink, say, "i think she might be getting too big for the sink." apparently she was kamikaze baby...trying to climb out, grabbing anything and everything within reach....my babies are getting big sooooo sooooo fast. i better not blink!