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He Took A Bath!


Ewen's "homework" for CBT today was to see if he could take a little bath. He said to his therapists that morning at 11:00 am that he would be fine. But at about 4pm he started to lie on the couch in our living room and roll around, his excessively long bangs swishing about his tired eyes, saying, "I'm NOT anxious about taking a bath I just don't think it is WORTH me taking the time to do it! It just isn't worth it!" He was in a pretty bad mood at 4pm so I just left it at that without any comment beyond, "OK", and we ended up taking a bike ride and the subject was dropped.

His friend came over at about 5:30 pm and put him in a very good mood. So when his friend left at 7:30 and after Ewens' sisters had taken their baths and I started to run his, I went and reported to him that I was running his very warm bath (how he used to like it) and from his computer on the desk in his room he said a bright, "OK!" I thought, that's promising.
Then he went deliberately to the bathroom and he got in the bath. And just like he used to, he shouted from the bath that he needed a towel so I took him one and cracked the door and tossed it on the clean  bath rug.

I was reading a bedtime story to his 6-year-old sister when he came out of the bathroom a clean and shining and happy kid, proud as punch of himself and he asked me what I would give him now that he took a bath? I said a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. He thought that he should get something like at least $5 or some Pokemon cards. I reminded him that his therapist said that there was no bribing involved in this and that it was just a bath.
Then I heard him go and try the same thing on DH and I called from his sisters room that there was to be no bribing involved. Honestly though I think it was his way of making a happy deal out of it. When he first came into his sisters room post bath in his PJ's he was beaming from ear to ear and I gave him a high five. I was VERY proud of him.

So when we go to CBT tomorrow morning he will be able to tell his therapists about his bath time success. I hope they give him the same homework assignment every night for these next 3 weeks and get this child back to not fearing something as important and simple...but apparently not simple, as getting clean.

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