Bath time

Aside from a small gap of a few years between Clarisse and Delilah, I've been giving baths almost nightly for over fifteen years.

That's a lot of baths.

When the older kids' mom decided to breastfeed, I decided I would be the bath giver. Even though I was quite young (I was twenty five when Caleb was born), I knew physical contact and one on one time was essential to bonding.

So I paid close attention when the nurses showed me how you bathe him and I just took ownership of it.

Fifteen years later and I'm still at it.

When Delilah came along, Kiza would also be breastfeeding, so when it came to bath time, I told her: "I've got this".

I have only a few years left I guess. Sometimes it's been a burden, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I imagine I'll miss it when the time comes for Dexter to take responsibility for his own bathing.

It's funny, baths have so far been synonymous with parenthood for me. I've been a bath giver as long as I've been a parent, but that won't always be the case. As I approach fifty in a few years and that scary milestone of being a parent longer than not, the counter on bath giver will have stopped.

Then I guess I'll be just a parent.