Bubble Beards

 When Karyie first came to live with us, her former foster family told us that she was terrified of water and specifically of baths.  We thought it would help if she took baths with her new sister, Katie.  It worked beautifully.  They played and splashed.  It was almost like Katie had to teach Karyie how to have fun in a bathtub.  We bought her a shark toy with six little fishies that it could eat.

Eventually, she learned to sit still and play quietly while we pour water on her hair and condition it.  With African American hair, you only shampoo about once a month.  On a weekly basis we condition it twice and then add a leave-in conditioner.  The whole process takes about an hour.  20 minutes to remove her old hairstyle (longer if we put in lots of tiny braids), 30 minutes to condition and detangle her hair in the tub.  10 minutes to deal with clothing and diapers.

I'm enjoying it all as a bonding time between Karyie, Daniel and I.