Waterbaby
Every couple days I like to wash the baby, whether he needs it or not. We have a six-foot long clawfoot tub, so I sit in the bath with him and “swim” him around in the warm shallow water. It could be the Gulf of Mexico, only with better visibility and no mangroves.
Before we moved here we lived in Key West, teaching scuba diving and running snorkel trips. We went back about two months ago to visit our old stomping ground, take the baby to our old watering holes. The Conch Republic. We stayed at the Key Lime Inn again, dipped the baby in the pool, took him sailing on the catamaran Caribbean Spirit. Baptism in chlorine and saltwater.
Lex loves the bath. Usually we do a little backstroke, and then scrub up with No More Tears, but he has gotten really good at sitting up lately, so tonight he was sitting facing me when he deliberately leaned forward and put his chin and lower lip in the water.
I was holding him, so if he had fallen forward I would have caught him, but he was clearly doing it on purpose, dipping his mouth in just a little. He tasted the bathwater, looked up and stuck his tongue out at me. Then we played a little and he did it twice more before Daddy came with a fluffy clean towel to dry him off and give him a lotion rub.
Now he is in jammies, having his last feeding before bed. I hope it tastes better than soap soup. I’m so glad he loves the water like his parents. My little bubblemaker, my beautiful waterbaby.
