In her journal I wrote that Katie enjoyed water play throughout the summer before her second birthday. I can't remember when or how things started to go south, but within in a few months bath time became an all out war. Katie developed an intense dread of bathing, an abject terror of the water or even the suggestion of it. I wondered if something traumatic happened at their dad's house to cause the sheer terror, but I never heard of anything.
When bath time came around Kate would absolutely LOSE IT! I always ran the water before she came into the bathroom to avoid the rushing water being loud and frightening, and I never filled it very full at all. But the minute Kate saw the tub she just freaked out. As I lifted her over the edge of the tub she'd pull her legs all the way up to her body in a tiny ball to avoid any part of her touching the water. She'd cling to me, scratching and clawing and trying to climb out of the tub, screaming frantically for her life. It was unbelievable! Heartbreaking! As if I was dropping her into acid or boiling water! My ears would ring for half an hour after it was over. And it took her almost that long to recover from the sobbing and hyperventilating.
Thankfully Katie had very little hair, so it didn't need frequent shampooing. I resorted to basically just giving her sponge baths, saving tub baths for rare occasions. When we moved to our apartment I hoped maybe things might be a bit better, (maybe Mom's bathroom had something to do with the terror?) but no such luck. Every time I gave her a bath I feared a knock on the door from child services, imaging what it must sound like to the neighbors. Gradually, the terror of the water itself ebbed, as long as I kept it very shallow, but shampooing continued to be a nightmare. She developed horrible cradle cap because I just could not wash her hair frequently enough or well enough. It became really disgusting and embarrassing.
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