Spirit Bath
My wife bathes Dmitri each night. Partly because I get home too late, and the baby needs to stay on his set routine. Partly becuase I’m not the king of grooming. I sometimes won’t cut my hair for months or shave for weeks. Although, to my credit, I do bathe everyday. Or at least I get in the shower and douse myself with water and rub soap all over me.
Tonight, my wife was washing her hair, which I didn’t realize until we got married is an actual excuse not to be able to go on a date with someone. Like, as a guy, washing my hair takes ten minutes. It’s not the kind of thing that would hamper me from any kind of social engagement. But for women (or at least my wife), it is an elaborate hours-long process that involves multiple trips to the shower and an elaborate array of oils, shampoos, and conditioners. It’s a process that will hamper a social engagement and even the nightly bedtime routine.
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Since Dmitri needed to stay on his routine, it was imperative that he got his bath on time. Despite her reservations, my wife left the task to me. It was the first time on my own. Usually if I’m home during bath time, I’m limited to a support capacity — filling his minitube, emptying it, bringing soap and lotion, helping to towel him off and dry his hair. Tonight I was in for the whole enchilada.
Bathing Dmitri wasn’t that hard at all, even when he squirmed around. But more than that, I didn’t realize how much of a connection you gain with your baby through bathing. Washing away the evils of the world from Dmitri while he stared up at me and smiled was spiritual. I can see why so many religions have a ceremony or ritual involving the washing of another. That simple act creates a bond between the washer and washee that’s hard to describe. It’s deeply personal. The closest I’ve ever felt to Dmitri.
I hope to be able to bathe Dmitri more often, but we’ll see. My wife pointed out I’d forgotten to wash his face, and she wasn’t sure I’d cleaned his butt well enough. In my defense, it was my first unsupervised bath session with the baby. I bet my wife didn’t clean Dmitri’s butt or face on her first try!
Actually, she did.
