Teddy's Bath

Hi. My name is Teddy. I am almost five years old. My Mamma says that when I turn five, I will be able to do more things on my own. One of the things Mamma let me do on my own when I was four, was take a bath all by myself. The first bath on my own turned out to be a mess. Want to hear the story?

"Mamma, Mamma, can I take my bath all by myself today?” I asked. “I promise I'll be really careful."

"Hmm." Mamma thought about it for a minute. "I guess that'll be okay. Just let me run the water for you. I want to make sure it doesn't get too hot. You can burn yourself if the bath water is too hot."

"Yay!" I exclaimed as I jumped up into mamma's arms and gave her a big hug.


Mamma started to run the bath water as I got ready to climb into the tub. She kept her hand under the running water to be sure the temperature was just right. "Okay Teddy, the bath is ready for you. First I want you to wash up. Then you can play in the tub for awhile. I'll be back to check on you in a little bit. Be careful and no standing up in the bathtub. It's very slippery and you can get hurt!”

“I’ll be careful Mamma,” I promised.

“Give me a yell if you need me" Mamma said as she walked down the hallway.

“I will.” I replied as I put my bath toys in the tub and climbed in. I was splashing around making waves in the water when I realized Mamma forgot to put the bath bubbles in. I love lots of bubbles in my bath. I climbed out of the tub being careful not to slip. I grabbed the bottle of bubble bath that Mamma always puts in my bath and carefully poured a small amount into the water. It only takes a little bit of bubble bath to make a whole lot of bubbles. Then I set the bottle of bubble bath on the side of the tub and climbed back in. As the tub filled up with water, more and more bubbles appeared. All of a sudden, splash -- the bottle of bubbles fell into the water. Soon there were so many bubbles, they started to flow over the side of the bathtub. I never saw so many bubbles. They were growing bigger and bigger and bigger -- they were almost over my head. I didn’t even think to turn the water off. I just jumped out of the tub as fast as I could. Bubbles got all over the floor and started to seep out under the bathroom door. I tried to grab a towel to clean them up. Suddenly, I slipped and fell with a big thud!

Mamma heard the thump of my fall and quickly ran into the bathroom where I was sitting on the floor crying. "What is going on in here?” Mamma yelled.

“I put bubbles in the bath and the whole bottle spilled in the tub!” I cried. "Are you mad at me Mamma?"

"Teddy, I'm angry that you didn't tell me you wanted bubbles in the tub. I could have helped you and you wouldn't have had this problem,” Mamma said sternly. “I love you very much and I understand that you want to do everything on your own, but sometimes you need to ask for help. Are you okay?"

"No," I cried. "My ankle hurts real bad. I can’t stand on it.”

Mamma took me to the doctor to have him check my ankle. It wasn’t broken but I had to wear a bandage on it and I couldn’t walk for a whole week!

I have been way more careful since then. I wonder what new thing Mamma is going to let me do when I turn five?