Aerya absolutely HATES having her hair washed. We have tried everything we can think of to wash her hair in the bath. We've bought hats, special rinsing cups, no tears shampoo, having her lay down in the water, having her standing up, letting her do the rinsing...the list just goes on and on. All to no avail though.
At the beginning of every bath she would look up at us with huge frightened eyes and say "No hair, no eyes?!" as in please don't wash my hair and get water (and soap) in my eyes. We could not convince her that if she sat/layed still the water would not go onto her face at all. She would thrash like a mad woman from the moment she sensed the shampoo was coming.
We went to washing her hair every other night, then every three nights and it was still torture. Finally, I'd had enough. I said NO MORE to washing her hair in the bath. From now on, we're doing it in the kitchen sink. Aerya continued to ask about the "No hair, no eyes?!" for a couple of weeks, then stopped; finally reassured that her baths were now safe.
But of course we still had the issue of washing the hair, now just in a new location. That's when I broke out the tried and true last option of every parent: bribery. I told Aerya that if she let me wash her hair in the kitchen sink with the veggie sprayer that we'd give her a dilly bar from DQ.
She was apprehensive, but interested. She "volunteered" Orange Kitty to go first. I washed and rinsed his hair with "No eyes!" Aerya was almost convinced. She laid down on the counter, but as soon as the sprayer turned on she started thrashing. We finally held her down and got it done with "No eyes!"
She was happy with the results, but understandably upset by the process. Then excited by the prize. She now will let me wash her hair in the sink with 3 provisions:
1. I have to show her the dilly bar first (and she might want to hold it). That kid is smart!
2. Orange kitty has to go first.
3. She wants to hold my hand for a while once the water has been turned on.
Once again, bribery is demonstrated to be a great parenting technique.
Aerya is a fantastic helper. No matter what you are doing, Aerya can help with it. Here she is with Grandpa fixing the lawnmower. What was so cool was that she could hand him the tools by name or color when he asked for them. And just like I remember from when I was a child, he was ever so patient while explaining what they did and just what he was doing.
