I love taking baths with Elise. I'm normally not a bath person. The thought of sitting in a slowly-cooling tub of my own filth usually doesn't do it for me. But under the right circumstances, I can enjoy the occasional bath.
When I was pregnant and feeling really queezy or if Elise was very active in my tummy and it was driving me crazy, a bath would make me feel better. Sometimes I take a bath now if the only time I have to get clean is while Elise is napping and no one else is home. I want to be able to hear her cry, so I don't run the shower, I take a bath instead.
But my favorite reason for a bath is if I'm going to take one with Elise. Babies are slippery when they're wet so I never took a bath with her when she was little. But now that she can sit up it's not so scary. She splashes around like crazy and really loves being in the big tub instead of her baby tub.
Elise has the most beautiful little naked baby body. In a weird way, I'm proud of it. I look at her naked, from head to toe, and think, "Wow. Husband and I created that. She's perfect." I know that as she gets older, the imperfections will start to show. Maybe she'll inherit my baggy knees or bad teeth. Maybe she'll get migraines like Husband. And then when she's much older, she has to watch out for the cardiovascular disease that's common on both sides of my family. But I can't see those things now. I can't see anything but soft, round, cuteness.
When I take that cuteness, smelling like baby soap, and wrap her in a fluffy towel, then look at her sweet little face, still smiling from the fun and excitement of 15 minutes of non-stop splashing, it makes me realize that sitting in a bucket of my own butt-water was totally worth it.
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