The bathtub swimteam

Wednesdays are grandkids day at my house. I pick them up from school, feed them, entertain them for a couple of hours until Mom comes home from her work. We have a whole room full of toys, such as Lego sets, dollhouse, 15 Barbies, Hot Wheels, the room can hardly hold more entertainment. But the big draw at Grandma's house is HER GIANT BATHTUB!

When the late Mr. and I bought this house, it was a "inventory home" (spec house in my vernacular.) We needed a house, needed it soon, wanted something new, and this would do. One of the assets that was pitched to us as we looked it over was the garden tub and separate shower. This was nice, and it is an asset, but not really something I had to have in my bathroom. I had a huge Jaccuzi tub in my former house, and barely used it once a year. It was fun the first couple of times, but it took 20 minutes to fill, and by that time, I was out of the mood. Same with this garden tub.

I must admit, on tired achy days, when I was weary from working outside, or when I was actually moving (I moved into this house before I moved out of the other one), the tub saved my body from complete anguish. I use it occasionally for that purpose. But the real demand for the garden tub is for the grandkids, when they want to take a bath at Grandma's house.

They are still young enough to be bathed together, even though we have a boy and a girl. They want to swim with the plastic fishies I have in the closet, they want bubbles, and if given the chance, they would splash every drop of water out of the tub on to the walls and floor. Grandma says no to that, as the area around the tub isn't exactly kid-proofed! Need to invest in some ceramic tile to reach up to the ceiling to spash-guard the area!

They have the best time in the big bath tub. We have to go through the bathing the dirty parts first, then the play continues. The squealing and splashing got to the adults tonight, so we moved a few feet away but could still watch them. I saw little girl M try to take some swimming strokes in the tub, no sweetie, this isn't Aunt MonkeyGirls swimming pool, this is a bathtub! But they had a grand old time.

So, every time they come to Grandma's, they ask for a bath. Luckily I have a stash of clean undies and PJs, so it helps mom get them ready for bed by the time they go home. And it is fun to see them have such a good time, even if the mop is needed after the swim team is finished with its evening session.