Paint? Did you say paint?

**SIGH**

This post brings me to the reality of a 4 yr old with an inherent love of painting. She is not satisfied by just any paint, either - it must be WET paint. Watercolor paints? No. Colorwonder paints? No. She want the true blue wet paint that comes out of the bottle in glops (is that even a word?) and is wet and squishy when you paint with it. It must be MESSY paint or it just isn't good enough.

Today, I gave in to the pleas for paint and doled out paper and paint and brushes with a hefty dose of distraction for myself so I could avoid the frustration of watching as she glopped all over herself and her paper. Sometimes you just have to look away while your child enjoys her favorite activity. If you try to watch, you will lose whatever sanity you might have had when you started. It just won't work.

Well, when I finally declared the end to painting, I came to do the requisite cleaning. What I found, was a Kira who was elbow deep in paint. Yes, my dear friends, she had paint from the tips of her fingers all the way up to her elbows. Now because I was intentionally ignoring this event, I have no idea how said paint managed to cover both arms so thoroughly, but I do have a sneaky suspicion. I think my little artiste decided that her paper was no longer worthy of her artistic expression and such expression would be better served if expressed onto her very own arms. Yes, I think she painted herself. Of course, I didn't ask because I honestly just don't want to know. I am comfortable in my blissful ignorance and paint washes off.

Or does it?

**SIGH**

Seems in my state of blissful ignorance I managed to give her the fabric paint instead of the washable paint. Well, I guess I "knew" this was fabric paint that I was giving her because it was in the little squeeze bottles. I gave her those squeeze bottles because I felt she would enjoy that experience a bit more than just dabbing her brush into puddles of paint. Squeeze bottles also keep the original colors "clean" because there's no mixing of the colors when you're dabbing your brush.

Guess what!!! Fabric paint does not easily wash off of arms. In fact, fabric paint is really quite difficult to remove from the delicate skin of a little girl who so happily painted herself without concern of how she was going to get that paint off. After all, it isn't like I can just plop her into a bubble bath for two hours and wait for the paint to soak off, now is it.

Imagine my frustration for a moment when I came to realize that I was now stuck with this work of art until the paint simply decided to wear off all on its own. Yeah - not a very good moment for me.

As a last resort I decided to coat her arms with lotion and see if that would help the paint come off with a little scrubbing from the washcloth. Much to my amazement, the paint started slipping right off of her arms and - according to her - it didn't hurt at all.

The lesson for today --- When you find your child covered in paint and don't know what to do, apply a heavy layer of lotion and a heavy dose of laughter, because it is really quite funny (after you get all that thick paint off...).