Shower demons

People, we have DEMONS in our shower!

Yes, that's right.  Demons.  Or ghosts or something very freakish.

Why else would my child scream and cry in terror when I try to put him in the bath tub?  All while giving the shower head the stink eye?

Ok, seriously though.  Let me tell the story...

I bathe Liam every night before bed.  Usually bath time is a time to enjoy and to play with rubber ducks and sharks and alphabet letters.  We've never had an issue.  UNTIL, the night Liam accidentally turned on the shower.

Liam loves to play with the little shower knob while he's bathing, but usually only does so when the water isn't running.  One evening, Liam pulled the diverter and the shower started spewing out all over him.  I didn't realize at first that he had done it and it even startled me a little.  Needless to say he was even more frightened than I was.  When he started to cry I turned it off and tried to explain to him that this knob is used to turn on the shower and blah, blah, blah.

A few more times this happened and honestly each time I allowed it so that Liam could learn the consequence of: "What happens when I pull this little silver thing?".  Cause and effect.  But, poor kid was scared of the water each and every time so I figured we would just let it go for awhile.

Now, I am telling you that weeks later-seriously WEEKS LATER from the last time the shower was actually accidentally turned on at bath time-we started experiencing an issue.  Is it possible my child had nightmares of this shower head spraying all over him and not being able to turn it off?  Possibly.  But, just this past week when I brought little naked Liam in to the bathroom for his bath he started to FREAK OUT.  The bath water was not running at all, just a peaceful pool of bubbles, ducks, and frogs awaiting him.  He almost ran away at first, but I was able to get him into the tub.  He wouldn't sit down.  He kept pointing up at the shower head and screaming, seriously frightened.  He started grabbing for me and as he held me I tried to pour water over him and scrub him down as quickly as possible.  This is the most frightened I have ever seen my poor baby.  All because of the stupid shower.  I felt horrible and what made it even worse is that he started yelling for his "Dada".  Over and over again he yelled "Dada!  Dada!" as if he knew his Mama was putting him in this situation and his father would save him.  Luckily, his father was home and was able to help calm him.  

The next night, his grandfather helped.  The night after that I was on my own so I skipped bath time altogether.  I couldn't bear watching my child scream in horror again.  

Finally, I asked my family for input.  My grandmother suggested covering the shower head with a towel and telling Liam "all gone".  This idea hit me like a ton of bricks.  YES!  This could definitely work with him.  So, just the other night prior to bath time I ran into the bathroom and covered the shower head with a blue towel.

When, I brought Liam in he was still acting timid about the whole situation.  He ran from me at first and started to whine, but I told him that I wanted to show him something.  I brought him over to the bath tub and pointed up.

"Liam, the shower is all gone.  It's not going to come on again.  I'm not going to let it come on again.  The shower went bye bye." 

He listened intently with his eyes on the towel hanging above him.

After a few little whines I placed Liam in the tub.  Water was off and shower head covered.  He still wouldn't sit down and he kept a constant eye on the shower head, but he did not seem as scared as he had been the past few days.  Every few minutes he'd get a little uneasy and start pointing up where the shower head "used to be".  I just kept reassuring him that it was "all gone" and "the shower went bye bye".  

And you better bet when he reached for that shower diverter that I made damned sure the water was off!

Here's to hoping this continues to work ;)

What's the strangest thing your child has ever been afraid of?