Our "Bathtub"

So a while ago I complained about buying a house without a bathtub. And then having a baby.

But really I can't complain, because when we remodeled our basement we put in a second bathroom. Without a bathtub. I guess I wasn't thinking about how it would work in the time between when Eli still fit in the kitchen sink and the time he could actually take a shower and get clean (vs what he does now, usually after swimming, which is just stand there and giggle and get warm).

Anyhoo ... here's how we worked it out:

We were so, so, so very lucky when we found our contractor, Lloyd (thanks, Russ and Kindie!). When we told him that we were planning to try to use the shower floor as a stop-gap bathtub for Eli, he custom-built this shower stall:

 Which was a really nice surprise considering, for the cost, we thought we were getting a prefab!

 I found the spray attachment thing in the discount bin at Home Depot. It was less than $15 so I figured it was totally worth a try ...

 Mike did a great job installing it, and it works great.

 Plus it has an on-off switch at the shower head so Eli never gets cold. Also, Mike really likes showering down there, now. I don't ask.

 And most importantly, Eli loves it!

And after bathing him in a traditional bathtub at the hotel, Mommy loves it, too! Particularly: the flat bottom (so no slipping), large square (so Eli can lay flat on his tummy and 'swim' around), high main on/off lever (so Eli has no access to adjust the water-temp), and short sides (so Mommy can just sit on the floor and reach in to scrub the bub!). A little unconventional, but totally awesome!