The Toddler Chronicles, No. 8
The Toddler Chronicles, No. 8
By Gabby (it’s a little overdue)
’Twas the night of Black Friday on Amazon and I was on the search for gifts when I came along these cool colored bath fizzles. There were 36 of them for $7, so I couldn’t resist a great deal for Lyla to enjoy herself at her favorite time of the day: bath time.
Side note: Lyla didn’t have a nap on this day because she was too busy playing and I was trying to get things done around the house.
The Amazon fairy dropped off the present at 8 p.m., so I summoned Lyla to the bath with my gift to her hidden until the perfect moment. Bath time was going great and I opened the tin can and deposited 2 blue fizzles into the bath water and Lyla was absolutely in love!
I knew she would love it. However, the company set me up for failure: It came with a card to show what colors to mix to get other colors. My mind flashed back to art class in elementary school. I thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce color changing and her seeing blue change to green. I took out a yellow fizzle and dropped it in the tub and all the tub water turned vibrant green!
I sat back and was very impressed with the quality of the bath fizzles. While reflecting on that, Lyla said, “Mom, no green! I want blue!” No longer did she want the green water but she wanted the blue water she had just enjoyed for a whole five minutes. She got TWO colors in her bath so I thought she would appreciate that.
Once the bath water was drained I told her she could have blue water tomorrow. This ignited a tantrum like no other. She assumed the downward doggy yoga position in the now-waterless tub and began to cry and wail. I wrapped a towel around her and picked her up and she went all stiff person (the opposite of going floppy like a rag doll) on me and I carried her to her room. Meanwhile, Charlotte was just having a good ole time playing with a urine soaked diaper by smacking it on the floor of the bathroom hearing the wet thud thud sound.
I laid Lyla on her floor and went to retrieve Charlotte and brought her to Lyla’s room. Lyla continued to cry hysterically and I got down on the floor with her, asked her what was wrong, and she exclaimed, “BLUE WATERRRRR!” I quickly put a diaper on Charlotte and then proceeded to get Lyla changed into her pajamas, which was like putting a spastic alligator into a long sleeve t-shirt and pants.
I instantly regretted having Lyla skip her nap. I laid Charlotte on the floor and asked Lyla if she wanted to put lotion on Charlotte and she immediately stood up, turned off the tears from an invisible faucet somewhere, and grabbed the lotion bottle from my hands and spread lotion on her her sister like she didn’t just wail on the floor like the world was ending for the previous five minutes.
Moral of the story: Don’t change the bath water colors. Toddlers can’t handle that dramatic change.