Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere

Is it too much to ask that the damned SpiderMan bubble bath be tear-free?

In a weak moment, I actually gave in to the pleading of my little guy when he started begging for the SM bubble bath at Target. Ordinarily, we use the tear-free head to toe stuff (ok, the *generic* kind), but I said, "What the heck. Let's walk on the wild side."

The boys now beg for bubbles with every. single. bath. Apparently, the tear-free stuff is no longer acceptable when we can have berry-scented, cartoon-themed crap. Problem is, it always ends up with both boys screaming about their eyes burning but refusing to exit the tub without being forcibly removed. Tonight, the little guy managed to pour most of the bottle into the tub while my back was turned. As you can probably imagine, the bubbles took the place over pretty quickly. You'd think they'd stop there. No such luck. My husband taught them that if they turn the jets on, the bubbles would take on a life of their own. Fun when there are a small amount of bubbles - scary when you can no longer see over them. So, with the shower doors closed, the bubbles climbed to new heights. The 6 year old thought this was fascinating - but his little brother was standing with bubbles up to his chin and growing more and more anxious about his fate.

Now, better parents would have been supervising this whole situation, but alas - we were not. See, the boys have been pretty much doing the solo bath thing for several months now without much of a problem other than the occasional flood on the bathroom floor. (The little guy likes the sound the water makes when it hits the tile floor with force.) Also - they almost always take their baths together so they can play with the boats and other assorted hunks of plastic that make bathtime so much fun. So, my husband and I will wash them and spend a few minutes, but the boys like to do their own thing for a few minutes, too. Plus, it's not like we go very far - my home office shares the wall with the bathtub and it takes all of 5 steps (yes, I just counted) to get from my desk to the bathroom doorway. Generally, when the squeals of delight turn to shrieks of anger or terror, we know parental intervention is necessary. Usually, the little guy ends up angry because he's not getting his way - the signal adopted by our family that informs us when bathtime is officially over. This time - both boys ended up screaming and calling for us.

I like to think that I have the ability to act quickly in harmful situations. But - I have to admit - the vision of my boys rubbing the suds out of their eyes, crying and virtually obscured by the room full of bubbles made me stop for a minute to soak it all in. I don't think I can effectively communicate how many bubbles we're talking about here. Let's just say it was impressive - my husband and I had an equally amusing time trying to get the bubbles to go away once the kids were rescued.

I wonder if they'll be asking for bubbles tonight...