Sibling Bonding

So Chris and I have found the key to getting Sam interested in his sister: let him clean her. For those of you familiar with Sam's OCD tendencies, this will come as no surprise. This is the boy who gets excited when I get out the vacuum, following me around with his toy vacuum. The boy who insists on having his own Swiffer duster when I clean. The boy who shrieks for a napkin when he gets a bit of yogurt on his hand.

Knowing all of that, I should have expected that Fiona's first bath would be of interest to Sam. I just didn't expect that all baths thereafter would continue to be closely monitored by Sam. A few days back, I casually mentioned to Chris that I was thinking about giving the baby a bath. Sam, who had seemed fully absorbed with his game of building roads for his cars, whipped his head up and asked "We're going to give Fiona a bath? I'll go get the bathtub?", then went trotting down the hall to retrieve the tub from Fiona's room. He then stood on a stool next to the sink and watched while we filled the tub and put Fiona in for a soak. Before I knew it, he was wetting her hair with a washcloth and asking for soap to wash her hair. Really, it was quite heartwarming, especially considering his relative disinterest prior to the bath.

Since then, Sam has continued to help out at bathtime, and Fiona, for her part, seems to enjoy it. Bathtime is one of the few occasions when Sam is close enough to Fiona for her to get a good look at him. She is certainly interested in Sam, and will crane her head around trying to find him when she hears his voice. He has tended to keep his distance though, so bathtime is a treat for both of them.