Baby and the Bathwater

April 22, 2011.  CC flying high thanks to her 6'3" papa.

A few days ago, I was thinking out loud; not always a wise thing to do, I discovered.  I was thinking about how bright our baby was. Even though she does not yet speak intelligibly, she appears to understand both English and French very well.  Although I do not bathe her everyday, when I mention "bath-time", she knows exactly what to do.  A few evenings ago, I made this very announcement. She stopped what she was doing, and made a bee-line for the bathroom door.  "Don't forget to take off your clothes", I said, and she started to do just that.  And when I reminded her to remove her diaper, she tugged on it (unsuccessfully).  We take our baths in the large tub together, as she has out-grown her plastic table-top tub, and our bathtub is too deep for me to reach my arms into from the outside.  Our baby was enjoying her bath as usual, splashing around, and playing with her plastic bath toys.  And then I decided to think out loud.  "How smart you are, baby, to know not to urinate and defecate in the tub!"  No sooner had I voiced this thought, than our Brat made the face; that pushing face.  I was hoping she might be constipated, and not successfully push, but within a few instants of the face, there were brown floaters in the bathwater!  This, unfortunately amused her, and she decided she would try to catch these new toys.  We exited the bath at the speed of light, and I rinsed her off in the sink.

This got me thinking about toilet training.  Although most experts would agree that it is too early at 14 months, a friend (paediatrician) of mine had decided to train her 8-month old son to poop in the toilet bowl.  As soon as he made the face, she would run into the bathroom, remove his diaper, and plop him on the toilet seat.  She had done the same thing with her 3-year old son, who, by the time he was 12 months-old, had stopped pooping in his diaper.  I told my husband about my friend's training technique, but he agreed with me that it was unlikely to work on our Brat.  First of all, by the time we raced to the bathroom, and removed her clothing, it would likely be too late, and secondly, if it wasn't too late, she would be so intrigued by her new environment, that she would cease trying to poop.  In hindsight, perhaps I should have given this technique a go. Especially if it might have guaranteed clean bathwater.