Fish-like in the Bath

Finn is bouncing at the side of the bathtub as it begins to fill. Before there is even a half-inch of water in the tub, he is attempting to throw his leg up and over the side—good thing he is nowhere near tall enough or coordinated enough to do this, yet. (When he is capable of climbing into the bathtub on his own, I will really be in trouble.) As if he were a fish that had accidentally flopped out of his bowl, Finn is almost “flapping” on the bathroom floor anxious to get into the water. The only problem, the boy still has his clothes on! I am well aware that if I don’t strip him down soon, he’ll be happy to take a swim, clothes, diaper, and all. At our block party last year, Finn had a similar idea and crawled into a kiddie pool fully clothed, so I shouldn’t be surprised. Luckily, he doesn’t fight me as I pull his shirt over his head. He even raises his arms to cooperate. He seems to understand that the quicker he is naked, the quicker he will be able to hop in and start splashing.

Once he’s down to his diaper, he actually starts to run away from the bathtub…if only I knew what he was thinking. He scampers into his room and finds two of his favorite balls. Running back into the bathroom, mini-basketball and mini-soccer ball held out in front of him, he is smiling as if to say, “No bath would be complete without balls!” Quickly, throwing them into the water, he looks at me, ready to be lifted in.

So I undo the diaper and cast it aside. Holding his hands above his head, I count, “1, 2, 3” and up and over he goes, landing on his behind with a splash. He takes to the water like that fish I mentioned earlier, grateful to be back in his natural habitat. As with everything Finn does, he is moving a mile a minute, first popping up onto his feet to pull all the bath toys out of the basket attached to the corner of the tub. At the same time, he is thrilled that the water is still gushing out of the faucet and sticks his hand under the stream to send water spraying everywhere. Then---Plop! In the blink of an eye, Finn is on his belly, face in the water, blowing bubbles.

Tired of blowing bubbles, Finn moves on to attempt a new trick. At first I cannot figure out for the life of me what he is trying to do. So, let me describe…still on his belly, the water only half-way up, he awkwardly throws his wet little head back and to the side. At the same time, his right arm is sort of stuck near his hip and his left arm is pushing against the far side of the tub. His flailing legs are kicking water all over the place. It seems as if he’s trying to gain enough momentum to flip over, but can’t quite manage it. So, he rolls back onto his belly, rearranges his arms, and pushes off to try again to flip onto his back. I catch myself laughing at him because he looks so darn goofy doing this, and I am still unsure what he is trying to accomplish. He looks a bit like a fish caught in a net, flopping around, trying to escape.

Eventually he manages to flip onto his back, and he looks up at the ceiling with a huge grin. Evidently he was trying to float on his back. As his mom, maybe I should have realized that. Yet, how did he know to do such a thing?



--JAK