Shower!

She, who trips a lot and giggles insanely when the dog tries to lick her, HATES the shower. She didn’t always hate the shower. In fact she has showered with me since she was about 4 months old and until recently seemed to like it. Once she was able to stand on her own I would put her down on the floor of the tub and let her play with her toys while I did my own washing. Then she started not liking it, then she started hating it and screaming to get out and finally she became terrified of the whole thing. This has been going on for a month or so now and shows no signs of abating. It seems to weigh on her mind for much of the day. We will be walking along when out of nowhere she will say something like “mima no shower, mima bath” and I will have to respond with a quick “that’s right, Jemima takes a bath, Daddy showers, Madgy (her name for N right now) showers, Morag showers, but Jemima takes a bath.” If I wait too long to give an affirmative response she get really nervous and whiney and clings to my leg. When she is having her bath she will suddenly look up at the showerhead and shiver and say “mima bath”, if I even reach for the tap, she either tries to hide or grabs my hand and says “no.” She isn’t opposed to other people showering. This morning in fact she made quite a nuisance of herself by standing there with the shower curtain open, dripping water all over the floor, talking to me while I showered. When I finally took the curtains away from her, and her mother carried her bodily from the bathroom there were many tears.