Family showers!

When Jimmy and I got married one of our favorite ways to start the day together was to shower together. It's a fun way to spend some time together, talk and laugh and splash each other with water and soap suds.
When we moved to our last house in Michigan our shower wasn't in a bathtub, it was free-standing and very tiny. It was hard to shower in there with just one person... not to mention I was 7-9 months pregnant in that place. We missed our morning shower time. Then when Emery was born we lived apart for 4 months, then it was just too hard, one of us needed to watch Emery while the other showered.
Well this summer we decided to reinstate the group shower, with an addition. Emery showers with us now. We usually wait till after she eats breakfast so we can use the shower time to rinse the oatmeal and strawberries and bananas out of her hair. We take turns holding her so the other can soap up or rinse off. It takes much longer... but it's worth it. It's a bonding time for everyone in the family. We play with Emery, make her squeal when the water hits her, spin her around, play with her bath toys, and generally interact with her. And we interact with each other. We bought one of those hose shower heads so we can take it off it's mount and spray each other with it or let Emery hold it and watch the hilarity!
It's funny how family traditions come about. We have found that when we try to start a tradition for the sake of starting a tradition (tacos every Friday night for example...) it doesn't seem to pan out the way we wanted. We forget to do it, or we have other plans, or we're going to be gone. But real traditions spring out of the togetherness of families. From something special that you share with only your family.
Now I know that someday, for the sake of being appropriate, we're going to have to change this tradition. Either we're all going to have to wear swimsuits or Emery or daddy will have to be left out of the family shower. But for now, the family shower is my favorite time of day!