When Gavin was younger, I used to count myself lucky that he loved water.  Getting him to take a bath was the easiest thing because he just couldn’t wait to get into the water.  Getting him out of the tub was always the challenge because bath time was never long enough to satisfy his fun in the water.

As he got older, bath time became a little trickier.  Although he still loved water and playing in it, getting him to take a bath was no longer a simple matter of calling, “Gavin!  Bath time!”  Instead, I had to resort to all manner of tricks, such as taking his trains to the “wash down”, bathing the rubber duckie, pouring water from bowls to cups and vice versa.  But as with all tricks, once the novelty wore out, they no longer worked very well.

Recently, I discovered a new joy to bath time that has gotten Gavin so excited, he initiates bath time instead of waiting for me to tell him it’s time to have a bath.  I really ought to have remembered this one after how happy he was when we gave him a bubble bath in Tanjong Jara.

Now every time it’s bath time, he keeps telling me, “Mummy, bubbles!”  The bubbles work so well that he’ll cooperate with me just so he can have them.  Although he doesn’t always dislike being soaped down, there are times when he’ll resist the soap, but when I tell him he can have bubbles after we soap him down, he’ll just stand there obediently and let me soap him down!  If you know anything about Gavin, you’ll know that he rarely gives in so easily. 

I really wish I’d wisened up on this sooner because it would have made all those troublesome bath episodes so much easier!  When it comes to children, it’s easy to forget that it doesn’t take much to make them happy.  You don’t have to come up with anything complicated or expensive and sometimes the simplest tricks work the best.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think at some point in their lives, all kids love bubbles - feel free to drop me a comment if you have a child that has never liked bubbles.

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Although it can be quite alarming just how crazy Gavin is over Thomas and Friends, I’ve discovered that there are benefits to having a child that is mad about a specific subject.  Because of these benefits, I have been actively encouraging his interest in Thomas the Tank Engine. 

These are 7 ways that Thomas and Friends have helped us:

1. Whenever I want to get Gavin into the bath and he refuses, I just tell him, “Let’s take Percy (or any other Thomas and Friends character name) to the washdown.”  After that, it’s smooth sailing.

2. If I want him to get out of the bath, I just say, “Do you want Mummy to read Thomas to you?”  Quick as a flash, he gets out of the bath.  Alternatively, I can also use: “Percy’s all clean now.  I think it’s time to dry him up.  You want to help me dry Percy?”

3. If I urgently need him to sit in his carseat, the key is to introduce a new Thomas something or other that he hasn’t seen before - whether it’s a snack with a picture of Thomas on the box, a new Thomas book to read, or a new Take-Along Thomas toy.

4. I never used to be able to get him to sit still long enough to read a book from cover to cover.  Now he keeps asking me to read to him his Thomas books over and over and over again until I can recite the entire book by heart.  After this, I was inspired to go out on a limb and buy the entire collection of the original Thomas the Tank Engine stories written by Rev W Adry, which cost RM200 at Times Bookshop.  Although I had some reservations about spending so much on a book that is probably a little too old for Gavin right now, I’m glad to say that Gavin really enjoys the book and sometimes prefers to listen to me read from the book rather than watch the VCD series.

5. If I want him to come upstairs for bedtime, I just have to tell him I’m going to watch Thomas without him.  Alternatively, I can also ask him if he wants me to read Thomas to him.  He also falls asleep without a fight after watching a few “silent” episodes of Thomas and Friends - in fact, since I started employing this method, I haven’t had to endure any fights about going to sleep.

6. We used to have to take Gavin for walks whenever we go out for meals because he couldn’t sit still for long enough for us to get through the meal.  Ever since I started bringing his Thomas Take-Along trains with us, his ability to sit in his seat has improved so remarkably that sometimes we don’t even have to take him for walks any more.

7. In fact, if I want him to do anything, I just need to find an artful way of including his favourite engines and I can usually expect good behaviour to follow.

So the next time your child exhibits an interest in a particular subject to the point of obsessiveness, don’t worry - it’s a good thing because you can work it to your advantage. 

Thank you Thomas, James, Percy, Emily and Gordon!  You are all very useful engines!

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When you’re a parent, one of the things you quickly learn is how to be creative.  For instance, when Gavin decided he much preferred to stay in the bath long after he was done bathing rather than to get dressed, I decided to make his changing station more interesting by sticking up pictures from his VCDs onto the walls:

It worked a treat because he stopped fussing the moment he saw the pictures.  In fact, it worked so well that he seems to want to bypass the bathing part and get right to the changing part.  Last night, he went into the shower, dumped a few scoops of water over the lower half of his body (because it’s too heavy for him to lift any higher), came back out and pointed to his changing station.  He garbled a few words in toddler language that must have meant, “Okay, I’m done, let’s get dressed.”

He was so cooperative to get out of the shower that it seemed almost cruel to drag him back in for a proper bath.  This is what happens when your creativity works too well.  Sigh…

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Being a mother has made me excessively sentimental.  For some reason, I can’t look back at Gavin’s old photos and videos without smiling to myself and thinking how adorable he is.  Of course, I still think he’s gorgeous, but there is something about when he was younger that really melts my heart.

Gavin has always loved bath time since the first day my confinement nurse gave him one.  Here he is at about 7months, playing with the water:

When we were in Tanjung Jara, the hubby introduced the bubble bath to Gavin.  Needless to say, it was also a hit.  He enjoyed it so much that he tried to give himself another bubble bath by running the bottle of bath foam under the tap - just the way he had seen Daddy do it…

As Gavin gets increasingly cheekier and more trying on my patience, I find myself requiring these old photos and videos to help me remember the things that I love about him.  It is times like these that I am glad I took the route of the video/photo obsessed mother attempting to record her child’s entire life on camera…

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Although I keep writing about Gavin being harder to deal with now that he’s getting older and wanting more things his way, there are some benefits to it.  For instance, he loves receiving any kind of praise and encourages it by clapping so whenever I say “clever boy”, he halts all activity and starts clapping for himself.  The main benefit of his ego-tripping is that when employed artfully, I can use it to halt an impending tantrum.

Here are a couple of instances where it has worked for me…

1. As I’ve mentioned before, Gavin hates it when it’s time to get out of the bath.  On a good day, he’s just fuss a little.  On a bad day, he’ll arch his back and scream.  So a couple of days ago, I tried telling and signing to Gavin that bath time was over.  He noticeably dug his heels in and sat more firmly in the bath water - if that’s possible.  I snatched him out of the water and saw his face screwing up for the big howl but before he could let loose, I exclaimed, “Oh yay!  Gavin’s such a clever boy!”  He gave me a stunned look and then a look of confusion, so I kept the praises coming.  Then he started to clap a little hesitantly and finally he was smiling, albeit a dazed smile.  I’m sure he was wondering what he did to be praised so.

2. Sometimes Gavin doesn’t want to get into his car seat and will start to protest when I try to put him in.  Well, the praise seems to work like a charm.

I used to try to distract him with toys whenever I wanted him to do something against his will.  It worked well in the early days but over the last few months, the predictability of its success has been questionable.  Occasionally, it would work, but other times, he would take my peace offering and throw it away with renewed rage.  Let’s see how long the praise trick will work with Gavin…

I didn’t have a recent picture of Gavin in the bath.  This is an oldie but a goodie.  I assure you, it isn’t the boats that he’s after.  Nowadays when I’m pouring water over him to wash him, he’ll pull himself up and hug me.  While the gesture is really sweet, it means having to bathe Gavin in my underwear.

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Gavin loves water.  Ever since he was born, the confinement lady told us he was very happy in water.  I wonder if the preference for water is hereditary?  The hubby was a swimmer back in his school days and I have also been pretty fond of water for as long as I can remember.

When E related to me how difficult her daughter was when it came to bathtime, I was thanking my lucky stars that my son loved water.  According to E, her daughter had to be coaxed into the water with all her clothes on.  Only when she was in the water could they slowly remove her clothes. 

Now that Gavin and I are having daily battles about staying in the bathtub, I’m wondering whether I was so lucky after all…

There are days when Gavin is so eager to get into the bathtub that he’s practically diving head first with all his clothes on.  But this is not the difficult part.  The challenge is getting him out of the tub (or shower) when he’s done.  Does anyone else have this problem?  Here are my 4 tips for ending bathtime for your hydrophilic baby without too many tears being shed (Mums - feel free to add your own personal tips in the comments below):

1. If baby is in the bathtub, I’ll let him play while I discreetly drain the water (this is where a bathtub with a plug comes in handy).  Once all the water is gone, Gavin is usually less resistant to being removed.  I think he’s still puzzled as to where all the water went.
2. If baby is in the shower, I’ll normally turn off the water, point up at the showerhead and say, “Oh!  No more water.  Water all gone.”  Then I’ll take him out of the shower.  Again, he’s puzzled where all the water went, although I think he’s growing a little suspicious of the taps in the wall that I keep turning because he’s made a few grabs at them.
3. Distraction with a loud squeaky toy is good - we have rubber boats that squeak similarly to those rubber ducks that are synonymous with bathtubs.  These are occasionally quite effective.  The loud noise is important because it distracts baby from his crying.  If he’s too busy howling, he won’t notice the brush you’re waving at him even if you try to get his attention with your voice.
4. Once out of the water, I’ll quickly wrap Gavin in a towel, hug him close and do a little jig and sing.  His favourite at present seems to be “The Diaper Dance” from his Baby Signing Time CD because he usually goes quiet when he hears me sing it.  Try a variety of songs and see what works best for your baby.
5. Make sure baby isn’t too tired.  Sometimes being tired wears down baby’s tolerance for situations he is not happy about.

Of course, there’s the good old fashion method of ignoring baby’s cries and just getting the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible.  Although I prefer to minimise the tears shed whenever possible, I occasionally am forced to persevere through the tears because nothing seems to work.

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Okay, so it’s been a while since I was last visited Crazy Hip Blog Mamas.  I figured it was time to pay a long overdue visit.  Fridays are labelled Photo Friday where Mums can submit photos according to a theme.  Last Friday’s theme was “water play” and here are my shots of Gavin in the bath…

Below: As you can see, Gavin loves his baths. 

Below: Gavin trying to dunk his head in the water - seriously.  He pushes his head back because he likes the sensation of his head in the water.

Gavin also loves looking at his reflection in the mirror while he’s in the bath tub. For some reason he finds it very funny.

These days I’m wondering whether I have a Kieren Perkins in the making instead of the Tiger Woods I’ve been hoping for.  Kieren once said that he loved water when he was a kid and well, if Gavin’s bath antics are anything to go by, I think he loves water, too.

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Gavin loves his baths.  He loves them so much that he’s starting to resent being taken out of the bath tub.  Now that he can sit up, he’s discovered the art of splashing.  Bath time for Gavin now also means bath time for Mummy - the innocent bystander who gets drenched in the process.

I can just imagine when Gavin gets older and stronger - bath time is going to get a LOT more interesting.

I’m also starting to wonder if swimming might be more his sport rather than golf…

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I wonder, can a four month old baby develop preferences so quickly? 

Since we got back from the hospital, I have bathed Gavin on the dining table, in our bathroom back at our old house, and in our bathroom at my in laws’ house.  In all those times Gavin has never kicked up a fuss.  Even when I accidentally put him in slightly cooler water one day, he still took it in stride.

When hubby and I went to Shanghai to attend my brother’s wedding, my MIL looked after Gavin.  Thinking she would make things easier for herself, she took Gavin’s bathtub to her bathroom to bathe him.  He screamed a fit until my SIL brought him back to our bathroom.

How curious.

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