Salad and Floaties

I walked into the bathroom tonight to see Simon cowering in a corner of the bath and Jonah, with his clothes on, standing in it too. "What's going on?" I ask...it was a very suspicious looking scene. Jonah didn't look up--he was staring intently at the water with his hands cupped. "Simon is afraid of the things floating in the tub, and I'm trying to get them out for him." He grabbed a handful of water and threw it over the edge of the tub onto the floor. "Got one!" he said, and Simon cheered, but then quickly reverted back to his fearful face and pointed at some other tiny floating speck.
It's all because of the salad. My baby loves salad. You think this is a good thing, right? But it's just not. It never turns out that when we have salad we don't end up with greasy salad dressing on everything--our clothes, Simon's hair, the floor...Babies have really poor teeth for chewing up raw veggies competently, and Simon's passion for balsamic vinegar means that his hands get involved, in order to make sure everything is properly drenched. Half of the lettuce bites are too big, so he chews for a while then throws them onto his neighbor's plate to avoid gagging on them. The olives, of course, go on his fingers, beans have to be eating one by one, and the chicken? Why do I keep forgetting that he doesn't want the chicken? He efficiently dispatches any pieces he comes across to the floor. Then he rubs his hands all over his hair, clinching his fate of being bathed immediately after dinner.
In fact, I didn't even attempt to wipe him down first, I put him in the tub, clothes and all, to undress him right there before I ran the water. And that, I suspect, is the source of the tiny little things floating in the water. To be honest, I was struck by how sweet it was for Jonah to have taken Simon seriously and to work toward helping him with his problem. He is growing beautifully into his role as big brother, and it is a delight to see it. Never mind that it took a lot of mopping to get all the water off the floor.