The Forbidden Paint

Paint...it's one of those art mediums that Moms tend to steer clear of. It's pretty for little eyes to look at, slimy for little hands to touch, yummy for little mouths to taste, and utterly exciting for little kidlets to make a mess with. And, no matter how proactive, one step ahead, or prepared a Mom might be before the painting begins, a mess is no doubt made. What I have come to discover though, is that making a mess is all part of the fun, all part of the experience, all part of making memories that last forever. 

So...we paint! 

And, it's never really planned out. I usually wake up one morning, and decide that today we should make a mess, create a masterpiece, experience a memory. Last Sunday was one of those days. With Daddy-O exhausted from the start of his work week, he headed straight to bed with me wondering what to do with two bright eyed girls ready to go at 7AM. Then it hit me...today we will paint.

I called up my partner in crime, Marce, and told her to pull out the painting garb and get Charlie ready to make a mess. We made one quick stop at Michael's to purchase the picture frames and colored paints, pushed the table aside, laid out the plastic drop cloth on the dining room floor, neatly blobbed paint on three paper plates, placed foam brushes and picture frames in small fingers,  and watched as smiles of imagination emerged on their faces while the painting began. 

This was Presley's first time ever touching paint, so I anxiously awaited with my camera in hand to see what she would do. Her little hand picked up the paper plate with paint dripping off of the edge, she  smacked it on the ground a couple times, and then ate it. 

My little Michelangelo on the other hand, meticulously used her foam brush to pick up each color and stroke it onto the sides of her frame. She seemed oblivious to the happenings around her, as she concentrated on covering each inch of her canvas without getting any paint on herself. 

Charlie took an approach somewhere between the two girls. He stroked and dabbed in-between running around, jumping, and trying to get the girls to hurry up so they could move on to something different. 

Painting turned out to be everything it was supposed to be. It was pretty, it was slimy, it tasted good..well, at least to Presley, and it was fun. A mess was made, rolled up, and washed away. 

But, the experience, the creations, and the memories of a warm Sunday afternoon in mid August remain forever. 

(If you are interested in doing this project all you need is an open space inside or outside your home, a plastic drop cloth which you can find at Lowe's or your nearest handware store, picture frames--the ones I purchased are usually $1 each at Michael's, but this week they were on sale for $0.66, different colors of paint---I use little bottles of craft paint which are also sold at Michael's in literally hundreds of different colors for $0.89 each, letters/shapes and a glue gun if you wish on finishing the project similar to mine, and young imaginations.)