Testing the [bath]Waters

I don’t know if this is a toddler thing or a girl thing or just a Maddie thing but she goes through these waves or phases of NOT wanting to do something that she used to do with zero complaint. In the past she has surely been on the eating roller coaster and a while back it was taking naps or going to bed. A few months ago it was simply putting on pajamas! We, as cordial parents to our little princess, would ask her which PJ’s she would like to wear to bed and each and every one we optioned for her she put down: NO! We initially thought it was a taste thing but her NO meant NOTHING. Well the cries ensued [hers, not ours] as we struggled to put on the PJs. She got over it and within a few weeks of this song-and-dance every bed-time she suddenly went back to her angelic self. Just like that.

Now it’s Bath-time. Again out of the blue she screams bloody murder the past 2 times I turned on the water. Like I’m drowning her favorite plush animal. So now I have to quickly bathe her with no assistance from her and quickly dry her and blow-dry her hair while she cries like a banshee that’s being slowly boiled alive. It’s heartbreaking and oh so frustrating at the same time. For the countless baths before this past weekend it was an alternate play area to her and just a week before she spent about an hour in the bath playing and having a grand ‘ol time. So now I’m hoping it’s again, like the other instances, a phase of hers and within a week or two it’ll suddenly be back to good and normal.

Otherwise it will surely be the Summer of the Stink!