Baths, boys and blankets

As a much needed bath time rolled around last night (Rookie Mama had been lazy the last two nights) I decided to try something new.  I have been looking forward to taking a bath with Vivi since she was born and decided that she was old enough now to try it.  ( I wanted to wait until she could at least hold up her head on her own).  I had cleaned out the tub in the morning and had managed to keep Scout from doing her own cleaning of tub-she thinks that it's her chore to lick every inch of the tub twice a day and has been doing that since she was a puppy.  I'm thinking of tying little scrubbers to her paws and letting her really clean the tub and while she's at it she can do the floors too. 

So up filled the tub with lots of baby wash bubble and in went Vivi and I.  She was a bit perplexed by the situation at first and I was struggling a bit with the logistics of holding her in a way that I could see her face, keep her covered with enough water to stay warm and not let her wiggle out of my grasp.  I wish I had a bigger tub so that I could put her in a floaty.  She is used to being free in her tub to splash around and was bothered that she couldn't kick in the same way with me holding onto her so tightly.  I then decided to let her float on her back with my arms underneath her.  She floated really well and soon was doing the backstroke...almost.  She does have the breaststroke kick down better than I do after years of swimming lessons. Once on her back, Vivi did seem to have a lot more fun and beat the water to a pulp.  She gets very serious when kicking and hitting the water and is just so concentrated on what she is doing that one can't help but laugh.  I use a water pitcher that I fill up before the bath to rinse her off and Vivi is now able to help hold onto it as I pour the water.
A wonderful young mom gave me some very good advice about how to keep chubby babies clean, but despite my best efforts, I keep finding new rolls that Vivi hides milk in that then rubs her skin raw.  I have a very sensitive nose now and know when she needs to be cleaned because the smell is pretty nasty.  She had a yeast infection on her neck when she was a few weeks old and the powder they gave us to treat it rubbed her neck so raw that it hurt me to look at it.  So ever since then I have tried to stay on top of it so she doesn't have to suffer with raw skin.  But there is a fold at the top of her neck that is almost impossible to get to without her freaking out and another area that is always bright red.  She is such a tough little girl and does not complain at all about it even though it must be uncomfortable.  I have also learned that milk likes to collect behind her ears and if you aren't vigilant about cleaning them then you will have a stinky baby on your hands.

Will I take her in the bath with me again?  Yes.  But I will make sure to heat up the bathroom first-it got a bit chilly after a bit- and work on finding new ways to hold her so that she can play better and I can relax a bit.

Boys Boys Boys.  Rookie Dad's worst nightmare.  Vivi and I accompanied Aunt E and Uncle D to a 6 month old's birthday party today.  I was hoping that Vivi was going to be happy and smiling since she had napped and eaten right before hand, but she was pretty shy and quiet around everyone.  The little birthday boy was napping when we got there so by the time that he woke up, Vivi was ready for her nap.  He was being quite the flirt around her.  Smiling and laughing and trying just about everything to get her to go for him.  But little Vivi had listened very carefully to her dad's talk about boys and kept a very stern look on her face.  She was not going to give that little charmer a smile.  Nope.  She was cold and stone faced.  I decided I better take her in for a nap before things got ugly.  I proceeded to spend the next hour and a half in the parent's bedroom trying to get Vivi to go down for a nap.  She is like her Aunt E and thinks that time to sleep = talk time.  Every night it's the same thing.  She will almost be asleep and then will reach up with her pointer finger and pop out her pacifier so she can start chatting.  I don't want to discourage her talking but her timing is just killer.  Eventually she did fall asleep just in time for us to leave the party.  All in all it wasn't her most successful showing at a party, but at least she made her dad very happy when he learned that she didn't flirt at all.

It is so fun watching Vivi start to reach for things and gain more control of her hands.  There is a wonderful knit blanket that a friend made for Vivi that has become her sleep time blanket.

The other day it was pretty warm in the room so I didn't cover her in her blanket but left it above her head.  When I came in to check on her, she had pulled the blanket over herself and was snuggled up next to it.  It was so amazing to me that in just a few days she has figured out how to reach for it and move it to where she wanted it to be.  My little girl is no longer an infant but a baby now!