We had a new shower fitted last night and although the lovely man fitting it showed me how to work it, it kinda went in one ear and out the other.
Waking up this morning to Taylor stinking of sour milk where he had let his new cup leak all over him - it was a different story completely! And I couldn't figure out for the life of me how the hell to use this contraption!!
Taylor on the other hand, had woken up in a terrible mood and obviously needed a good hours sleep - and was NOT impressed when I summoned him to be washed *evil cackle*...
Obviously, there are tricks to handling the situation so nobody gets hurt, so below are my tips on showering a tired toddler:
1) Bribe the toddler to get them undressed.
2) Make sure there is no way they can escape the bathroom (this is a biggie, especially, if like us there isn't actually a bath in there, just a wetroom).
3) Back the toddler into the shower, providing them with lots of colourful distractions*.
*Note; do not use bleach or any other cleaning shiz, its bad for them!!
4) If there are any corners or sharp bits, make sure you cushion them for when the tired toddler throws themself onto the floor. - This does happen!!
5) Let the toddler wash themself, this takes the edge off the whole 'mum is forcing me to wash' business! (Make sure they don't eat the soap).
6) A simple rugby ball hold position (where you have hold of the toddler under your arm) is the way forward when washing a screaming toddlers hair.
7) Just remember, water will not melt them, kill them or poison them, so ignore the screaming - obviously make sure there is no shampoo in their eye.
8) When washing the soap off, the easiest way is to hold the child with your knees and rinse them over with the showerhead...
9) Next time, wait til they aren't tired :-p