Saturday, September 23, 2006

A Fear of Soap

OK, I know the stereo type of little boys not liking taking a bath but for this story please divorce yourself of it. My DS LOVES bath time, at least he did up until recently.

Earlier this week, Weds night to be exact, was the first time I noticed this fear that DS has developed. He got into the bath tub just fine and allowed me to wash his hair with minimal complaint. So far so good. The whole process was going really well - until he realized there was soap in the water! At which point he started to freak out. I managed to get through the bath quickly(rinsed off) and get him out and he was fine.

Fast forward to tonight. Again, the pre bath ritual went off without a hitch. Potty...check...warm water...check...soap, shampoo and cup...check... Commence operation squeaky clean! I get his hair all lathered up and rinsed, no problem - until he again notices the soap bubbles floating on the water! All hell breaks loose. Uncontrollable crying and shaking with fear. He was practically climbing up the front of me to get away from the soap! All he could say is "No soap" when I asked him what was wrong. He was still covered in body wash so I had to take him into my dad's bathroom to rinse him off because he would NOT get back in the tub. A few minutes later he was perfectly fine, no sign of the hysteria at all!

I'm truly at a loss here. We've gone from a kid who used to beg to take a bubble bath to one who can't even handle a little bit of shampoo floating on the water!

And so I'm up at 1am thinking about this and wondering how to help him get over it. Did something happen at day care? I can't ask that question right now because they are closed. Did something happen last weekend at my mom's? No, I don't think so because they didn't say anything about having to bathe him while he was there. He hasn't been out of my sight in the last two weeks except to go to day care or visit with my mom and sister while I was at work last weekend.

It's a mystery....

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