Today in an elevator, I saw a couple with a brand new baby in an infant carrier. Everyone on the elevator, of course, was riveted to this tiny sleeping creature. I was reminded of not only how tiny newborns actually are (and how quickly that changes), but also how deceptively fragile they seem in those early weeks. To be sure, newborns arrive in this life in a much ‘unfinished’ state.
We have pictures of both of our girls’ first real baths, an intimidating milestone for most new parents and babies. We’ve all seen those commercials with happy, giggling 6 month olds splashing in a tub full of suds. Well, newborns have not yet acquired a sense of this fine form of relaxation and the first bath (and quite a few to come) will seem more like torture. You can’t even give your baby her first real bath until her “cord falls off” – a phrase that itself ignites anxiety in many new parents. Add to that the fact that your baby perceives your attempts at bathing her as an appalling violation of her primal need to be warm and bundled.
Those pics of my girls’ first baths are not of contentment and fun; they are of bright red naked babies screaming their little heads off, all while dad endearingly and aggravatingly flashes the camera at them. I’m sure they thought we were going to leave them wet and naked to freeze to death (in our 72 degree house…).
The first bath is just one of many experiences along the road of finding your way as a parent (or at least looking like you’ve found it). Try to relax. You will actually look back on those hurdles with enduring sentimentality. Especially when she grows big enough to have that “dirty little kid” smell – something akin to a wet dog. Seriously.
1 comment:
My running partner actually refers to her sweaty kids as "smelling like goats."
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