Shower Memories

When I went to Ethan's group home yesterday to pick him up, he was just getting out of the shower. They had to dry him off and get him dressed before we could go. My first thought was how glad I am that I no longer have to do that every night. Then my thoughts drifted to some of Ethan's more memorable shower incidents.

When he was nine, after I had finished scrubbing him down I let him stay and enjoy that water for a while. One evening he came strolling into the kitchen, naked and sopping wet, dripping water all over the floor. He went to the paper towel rack, pulled off a couple of paper towels, and started drying himself.

Intrigued, I went to the bathroom to see if I could figure out why he was doing it this way. When I got there I saw that the clean towels were still on top of the washer. I had forgotten to hang them. I was impressed at his creativity.

There was another incident around that time that was memorable but not fun. I was in the living room when I heard a loud thud coming from the bathroom. I ran in to see what was going on, and Ethan was lying on his back in the bathtub. When I tried to get him up he didn't move. For a brief moment I considered the absolutely terrifying thought of Ethan as quadriplegic. Then I saw that his whole body was shaking; he was having a seizure. I've never been so relieved by a seizure in my life.

Later that same year I came in to find that he had dumped half a bottle of shampoo out on the floor and was 'skating' back and forth on the linoleum. It was fascinating to watch but it took a long time to clean up.

And then came the most terrifying bathroom memory of all. My house has a very small bathroom. One day Ethan had a seizure and managed to fall into the tight space between the tub and the toilet. His seizure was strong enough that he had pulled the toilet out of the floor. In the process the water line came off, and there was water on the floor that he was laying face down on. I was profoundly relieved that it happened when it did. I was just about to go mow the back long and wouldn't have been able to hear it. God only knows how that would have turned out.