Somebody summon Chrisfix. I'm sure he would teach us how to clean a baby using simple hand tools, probably starting with a thousand grit and working our way all the way up to a three-stage polish.
When I first read about baby showers but before I first heard it said out loud, I wasn’t sure if it was shower as in a bath or shower as in show and tell. Showing made more sense to me because it was a baby that has not been seen before and babies do not take showers usually.
Baby showers (at least in my area) are done in the last part of a pregnancy. They’re used to give gifts and useful items to a new parent(s) to prepare for the coming of the child. (Baby clothes, diapers, stroller, etc.)
It’s also a party to celebrate the birthing parent (and more recently, the non-birthing parent) as a last hurrah before they’re tied up with new baby for months.
It’s also typically a bigger deal for the first child, and either omitted or toned down considerably for subsequent children.