Fun With Fingerpaint

Parenting. In all my experience, you know, all 23 months of it, it's largely a great experience. It's full of wonder and excitement, love and laughter, but nobody said it was always rosy. No, some days I teeter between feeling immense joy and wanting to pull my hair out. Having kids is a roller coaster ride sometimes. Recently, we had one of those days when Dinah was getting on my last nerve. Between her not listening to a word I said, and her frequent whining, I was getting pretty irritated.
So, what did I do? I decided to put off the housework, and change things up a bit. I whipped up a batch of homemade Fingerpaint, taped some wax paper on the kitchen table, and let her go to town. It was a great way to redirect our attention and adjust our attitudes. She had a blast, repeating "I painting" over and over, pointing out the different colors that she knew and even painting on Mom's hand. By the end, everything was covered so I asked if she was ready to clean up. She replied, "I want bath." Great idea, kiddo! So we moved our party to the bathroom and got everything cleaned up.
Sometimes you just need a change in activity to change your attitude.