The Creative Art of Parenting. Or, "How many adults does it take to soak a toe?"

Doctor's orders: soak Caleb's foot 3x a day in order to help get rid of an infection on his big toe.

Leah's orders: Jonathan, please soak Caleb's toe while I eat a second dinner.

The following pictures show the event that ensued: first Jonathan tried to hold Caleb's foot in the container of warm water by himself, but of course Caleb decided to resist. So he asked our friend Margarita, who was over for dinner, to help him. She held the container while Jonathan attempted (with BOTH hands) to keep the 2 inch foot under water. After a few minutes I could tell Jonathan was getting frustrated because he yelled out, "The only part of his foot that won't stay under water is THAT TOE!" He re-gripped Caleb's foot so that he could use his pointer finger to keep his big toe under the water, and all was good for about 3 seconds. Then, Caleb started to cry. (He couldn't have had better timing if I'd paid him!) Jonathan wanted me to get the pacifier, but I was too busy snapping pictures and laughing hysterically to be of any use so I told him to get creative. In order to keep the squirmy 2 month-old from falling he had to reach around and put the palm of his hand on Caleb's forehead, and his pinky finger in his mouth. Finally, Caleb was calm. The doctor said to soak his toe for 20 minutes at a time, but I think we were all satisfied with the 43 seconds we got. There's always next time...