Hands off

Washing Olivia's hands in a public restroom is one step short of torture -- for me, not her. For starters, her hands can't reach the water stream without me having to stretch her over the entire counter, completely soaking the front on her clothes (why are the counters in there so wet anyway?). Also, we seem to always pick the sink that doesn't have soap, so I trek around holding her waist with one hand and testing soap dispensers with the other. Automatic faucets (a fixed temperature?) and soap dispensers (does the thing not sense little hands?) further complicate the situation. However, the worst part of the whole ordeal is after the washing and drying are complete. While I wash and dry my hands, Olivia has some down time to re-germ her hands that I have just cleaned. More than once she has bent down to feel the floor tiles or explore the trash receptacle, and we have to do the whole thing over again. This lead me to begin telling her after completing the process, "Stand still and don't touch anything" (Gee, fun, Mom!). This started to work pretty well when I would repeat it several times during my hand-washing routine. What was even more effective was giving her those instructions and also telling her to hold the paper towel we had used to dry her hands, instead of putting it in the garbage (to keep her hands occupied).

The other day at home, we came in from playing outside. I helped her wash her hands at the kitchen sink (a tiny bit easier than a public bathroom, but not much) before eating. As I set her down to dry her hands with the towel she instructed herself, "Don't touch anything!"