Waiting it Out

It was Baby's first full day back at daycare and Mommy's first day back at work after a week of vacation.  Baby had a great day at daycare.  She was dropped off just fine and when Mommy went to pick her up she wanted to stay and play.

I finally convinced her to come home with me (saying "Bye" and walking out the door doesn't work with her.  She'll say "Bye" and keep right on playing) and I could tell Baby was getting tired.

We got home, had dinner, and I started Baby's bath.  The moment the bathwater started running, Baby started running.  No way did she want to go anywhere near the bath tub.  She started screaming and crying before I even chased her down.  We'd skipped baths for a few days and I didn't want to let her go another day without one.  This was a battle I would have to fight.

I picked up Baby, a magazine, and locked her in the bathroom with me.  I got her naked and set her down outside of the tub.  She was screaming and crying at this point in time because she didn't want to take her bath.  I sat by the bathtub and attempted to read my magazine and ignore her.  I didn't want to force her into the bath because then I would have to physically hold her down and rinse her off while she screams and tries with all her little might to climb out of the tub.  I've done that before and it's not fun.  This time I thought we could have a battle of wills.  I was determined to win. 

I sat by the tub while Baby ran to the door.  She clawed at the doorknob trying to get it to turn (one of these days she'll figure it out and then I'll really be in trouble).  She was pretty hysterical.  Snot was running down her nose, saliva was dripping from her lips, and tears were forming tracks down her cheeks.  When she took a breath, I told her that she should let me know when she was ready to take her bath.  She didn't like that.  She started screaming louder.

I attempted to ignore her and read my magazine.  I wish I had brought my phone in there with us to track the time.  I have no idea how long she just stood at the door screaming.  My plan was to wait her out.   

Eventually I finished most of the magazine and decided to start playing with her bath toys in hopes to entice her to come to the bath.  That trick worked.  She came over to me and sat in my lap.  She stopped screaming and I wiped her snot/saliva/tears all clean.  I asked her if she was ready for her bath and she said no.

I played with her toys some more and she stood up and started to reach for them.  I told her she could have them if she got in the tub.  She was hesitant, but then said okay.  I helped her climb in and she got her toy.  Immediately she wanted out.

This is where I think I made my mistake.

I didn't let her out.

Commence the crying, screaming, snot cacophony.  Add squirming, twisting, climbing and grabbing.  Now get it wet.  And turn up the volume.

As quickly as I could I washed her off.  I attempted to reason with her and tell her if she wanted out she had to stop crying (I was still trying to win this one).  She calmed down a little bit, and I went with it.  I pulled her out and dried her off.

Then I tried to put on her diaper.  This battle she won.  Do you know how hard it is to hold down a child on the changing table who does not want her diaper on?  It's tougher than you think.  My child is strong.  And determined.

Anyway, I just wrapped her crying self into her towel and rocked and held her.

She fell asleep in my arms and I changed her then and put her to bed.

I'm not really sure who won tonight's bath battle.  Any ideas?