A mystery solved

Evie has recently developed a fear of the bathtub. It began about a month ago, every time we would try to give her a bath, she would become hysterical, screaming and trying to crawl back out in terror. After checking the water temperature etc, we would ultimately have to rush through the basics and get her out quickly, unsure of the problem, but certain she was desperate to be out of the water as she screamed through the entire procedure...most unlike her previous water-baby self.

We have consulted various other parents and parenting guides and determined that this is not uncommon for kids her age and could possibly be a new-found fear of something in the tub, most-likely the drain.

So this weekend, determined to conquer the bathtub fear for the sake of all involved, we conducted an experiment, we decided to see what would happen if we made the drain disappear. We filled the tub with bubbles...tons and tons of bubbles. So many bubbles that nothing could be seen, most importantly, the drain.

Once I had the bath ready to go, I had Bryan bring her into the bathroom; I sat on the edge of the tub, scooping out bubbles and blowing them back across the water. Bryan soon joined me and we threw bubbles up into the air and blew them at her while she sat on the floor in her naked glory.

Soon she could not resist the bubble fun, and ran over, squealing in delight. We handed her some bubbles and let her touch them. She blew them, she threw them, she wanted more; we obliged. Soon, handfuls were simply not enough; she wanted to to crawl into the tub and into the pile of bubbles. I lifted her over the side, where she first stood, then crouched and finally, sat down in the warm water, lifting bubbles and throwing them at us, squealing and laughing.

I thought we had success until something caught her eye- I looked over, the drain was still well-covered and she wasn't looking down. Her face became very serious and she completely froze. I followed her gaze and I realized the possible source of her fear- the spout cover.

Last summer, we purchased a green and white spout cover for the old, sharp, metal tub spout in an attempt to prevent possible head trauma. The spout cover is however, basically the shape of a wide mouth, there is no face. So to the imagination of a small child, it could perhaps be something scary to look at.
I asked Bryan, "do you think that could be what she's afraid of?"
"What, you mean the big green and white mouth that can swallow her whole?"
"Indeed."

She continued staring at the spout, wide-eyed, unmoving.
"Is that scary to you, love?" I asked her.
She just looked at me with a trembling lip, eyes huge.

I reached over and pulled the cover off the spout, showing it to her. She reached out tentatively, and touched it softly. Once realizing it was only plastic, she grabbed it from me and plunged it under the water, I assume to drown it. She laughed and let out a squeal...
Then, after sufficiently killing it, she tried to put it back on the spout herself...apparently it was no longer scary.

As the spout was not a threat, bath time was once again fun. She splashed and she giggled; she drowned her rubber ducky, she stuck foam letters to the walls. She played with the drain and tried to let the water out.

We asked, "are you ready to get out?"
She always replied "nooo."

When we finally did call bath time to an end, she cried, sadly in protest.

I will call this a success.