islandhippy

Lest we ever forget Olive's bizarre bath time rituals, allow me to record them here for posterity.

For some reason Olive prefers cold water to lukewarm water. She likes nothing better than to be doused in cold water from a bucket. Admittedly we live in 33-degree heat so cold water is very refreshing but still. Her eyes open wide as she gasps for air and her arms freeze before she screams in hysterics. Unfortunately she likes to wash Daddy's head (no hair) in cold water too. Every time Daddy bathes Olive — most nights if he's home on time — he will have to lean over the bathtub to allow Olive to wash his head. "Daddy dirty hair. Wivvy wash hair. Daddy no like cold water, Daddy like warm water." Splash ... she pours cold water over Daddy.

From the age of about 12 to 18 months, it was only possible to get Olive out of the tub with the promise of an ear-cleaning session! She was addicted to earbuds. We were always careful not to insert the buds inside her ear canal, instead we just tickled her ears. Now, at age two, we lift Olive out of the tub, sit her on the washing machine and dry her off while she plays with Daddy's underarm deodorant. The easiest time to dry her hair with a towel, which she doesn't really enjoy, is while she's preoccupied with the deodorant, trying to pull the cap off. When the cap is off she has to give Daddy some deodorant under each arm. ("Phil doesn't seem to realise this is the only way Olive can bear being so close to him and his pongy armpits" Sandy.) Daddy then pretends to rub deodorant on Olive's armpits (she doesn't realise it's just Daddy's fingernail, not the deodorant stick).