I wish I had a photo of Benjamin’s first bath. It was back in February and he was five years old and it was our first night/morning together in our hotel in Addis Ababa. So far everything had gone well…he was happy and playing and eating well and sleeping well. I worried about the bath thing, because I wasn’t quite sure how he was used to getting bathed. I worried he would be shy to get undressed around me but I worried he was too little for me not to be in there helping him.

I filled up the tub with warm water and threw in some plastic cups. I called Ben in and motioned for him to get in. He smiled and rolled up his sleeves and started to wash his hands and arms, while kneeling down next to that big old blue bath tub. I laughed and motioned for him to take off his shirt, and he did so happily, and then went back to washing, while sitting on the floor in the bathroom. So I smiled again and motioned for him to take off his pants, and he gave me a questioning look but was still smiling and did what I asked, and then bent back down and went back to splashing water on his arms.

So I motioned for him to get IN to the bathtub, and his eyes got big like saucers and he looked at me like I was nuts. I motioned again and said, “Go in the tub” and he said “IN?” and I nodded. So he held my hand and gave me a look that said, “Ok lady if you say so,” and oh, so slowly stepped into the water. He was really brave and trusting. Once he was standing there I told him and motioned for him to sit down, and again his eyes got wide and he looked at me like I was nuts. I finally convinced him, and he crouched down low into the water and after a minute or two started to realize it was kind of fun. I couldn’t convince him to sit all the way down, so there he was, crouched down in the water, playing with the cups and doing a whole lot of splashing, and finally his legs couldn’t take it anymore and his little bottom fell the last two inches to the bottom of the tub and he was finally sitting down. He looked amazed that he hadn’t drowned, and then went back to playing. I got great smiles that seemed to say, “Ok, so maybe you do know what you are talking about.”

As hard as it was to get him into the tub, it was just as hard to get him out. He played and washed and washed and played until the water had given up its last bit of warmth. He climbed out into the warm towel and looked up at me smiling and said, “Tub is good.”

Yes, I wish I had a photo of the first time Ben dared to sit down in the bath tub.