Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

During our summer of swimming at the Y, I saw a mom showering her kids after swimming and putting them in their pajamas before they went home.  Brilliant!  Shower the kid when he's naked anyway!  Amazing!  And so the next time I brought some soap, and turned on a shower, and...  listened to Dex scream bloody murder and cry while I showered him.  I'm sure the few times we did this someone outside was wondering if they should call CPS for that poor child whose mother was obviously killing him.

And then something amazing happened.  We went to a water park.  A fountain park.  A spray park.  Whatever you call it.  We went after Aunt Maria's graduation.  The first time in that afternoon Dexter screamed and cried and we left after about ten minutes (but, BONUS, the lake looked super fun after that experience so he splashed right in, and loved it, much to my surprise).  The second time John took him in, and after some hesitation and fear, he got a little bit braver.

The third time?  Stayed in the spray park for an hour, running under and over and through every single fountain he could find.  Total blast.  Had to tear the child away so we could go eat dinner.

And then we went back to swimming at the Y.  First time trying a shower - some fear and crying, but after I chatted with him for a while and splashed in the shower myself, he decided that perhaps he could splash in the fountain, too.

Second time - A little look of panic when I mentioned a shower, a couple whimpers, and then we both splashed away in the shower fairly happily.

The third time?  We went with Daddy, and he was in the men's bath house next to us changing his clothes while we took a shower.  I think he was grinning the whole time listening to Dexter exclaim at the top of his lungs "You are taking a shower in the shower!  You are taking a shower in the shower!"

Third time's a charm, eh?  So thanks, splash park.  You've cured the shower phobia.  Now I get to take a shower with Dex and listen to him chatter away, "This is your butt.  This is my butt.  We are taking a shower.  You don't want to get your face wet.  We are taking a shower.  This is my butt."  And I just thank heaven we don't know very many people at the gym...