Baby steps to baths

I mentioned in my last post our plan for trying to make bath time less stressful with J. Since he loves playing at his water table I decided to try putting his water table in the shower. My plan is to try and ease him into being comfortable in the shower, and to hopefully clean him up in the process. The fist night my husband changed his diaper downstirs while I filled the water table. He carried him up already naked, and J was crying before they even got into the bathroom. I think he must have sensed that we were up to something and thought we were putting him in the tub. Since he was already upset I didn't push him. He pretty much saw the shower and ran. We scrapped the plan for the night.
    The next day I decided to try again. This time after changing his diaper I put a clean one on but left his pants off. I then opened the gate at the bottom of the stairs and asked him if he wanted to go play upstairs. I had the water table already full and the shower door open. He loves exploring the upstairs and usually does laps through the mater bedroom and bathroom, so I figured I would let him discover it on his own. During his first pass through he noticed the table and stopped to check it out, but kept going. As he made his way around again I sat on the bench in the shower and started playing in the table. When he made his way through again he stopped and splashed in the table from the outside, but wouldn't get in the shower. He did another lap and after his next pass through did this:

He played happily for a bit then got out to do another lap of the upstairs. When he came back into the bathroom I was able to take his shirt off and he got back in to play some more. He seemed to be really enjoying himself.

As he was playing I was able to get his diaper off also, but I'll spare you those pics LOl. While he played I lathered up a washcloth and tried washing him a bit here and there. If he started to get agitated I stopped. I didn't want to push him to far. Again, my main goal was to start getting him comfortable with being in the shower. I wasn't overly concerned with bathing him this time around. Like I said in the title, baby steps.
This afternoon I tried again. Today I brought him up in just his diaper. As soon as he walked in the bathroom and saw the table he got right in the shower. He played for quite a while without getting out at all, and even wanted the stall door closed. Again I washed him a bit here and there but didn't try to do too much. I even pulled one of the shower heads down and let him put his hand underneath. This time he cried when it was time to get OUT of the shower :)
Hopefully in a couple of days he'll be fine with a full cleaning. Washing his hair may be another story...