Alice, Where are you Going? Upstairs to Take a Bath!

There was a little song my mother used to sing to me at bath time. The first two lines are the title for this post. Bath time was always a bonding time for mother and daughter. I do not remember a single time my father gave us our bath. I guess in those days, a women's place was in the kitchen AND bathroom. Alas, the point of this post is not to analyze the role of mothers in 1970's America. I want instead to transport you to bath time.

Imagine if you will, warm water flowing into a big, clean tub. A tablespoon or two of bubble bath make for an out and out party in the tub. We always wanted bubble baths, but due to recurrent bladder infections as a child and a bum urethra, I was not allowed. I got over it though. As soon as I would put my foot into that caressing water, I would forget about the lack of bubbles. The steaming water, itself, was a treat. I am not sure how long our baths really lasted as kids, but it felt like forever. This was back in the day when you would happily leave your eight-year-old and your three-year-old to paddle around in the tub by themselves. You would then go relax and have a glass of wine with your husband.

We played games and made up stories. We didn't need much in the way of toys, we could imagine anything that was missing. "Swimming" on my tummy, I could imagine I was in the oceans of the world. Exploring...floating...calm. Sure there were nights where the focus was not calm and relaxed. These were the nights of splash fights or boisterous bathtub songs (the acoustics in the bathroom lend themselves to LOUD singing). Needless to say, bathtime was prized in our lives.

Bath time with Elena has the same feeling. As an infant, she bathed with me every night. I would get in the tub and lay her on the floor beside it then pull her into the warm water. She loved it and would coo and look up at me with thankful looks. This week, however, she passed a milestone. She finally flipped over and started "swimming" in the tub. No longer afraid of getting her face wet, she has discovered the wide open sea that is her bath tub.