This is the second post in the Share Your Story series. If you’ve been inspired by 52 Brand New or have always been the adventurous type, please share your story with us! Email your story to 52brandnew@gmail.com. We want to hear from you!
This post is from Christina H. She lives in Virginia and is a proud stay at home mom to a 2-year-old girl and 8 month old boy. In her spare time, she loves to take yoga classes and spend time with friends and family.
On the last day preschool for my two-year old daughter, I vowed (quietly to myself), that I would do art projects with her every week since we are entering the summer-time void. That was over a month ago. So far, taking out the Play-doh is the closest I’ve come to getting crafty with her.
Today I decided would be the day we do something new – paint! Now, all of you bloggers and Pinterest lovers out there might find “painting with your daughter” to be a mundane task. But this is coming from a mother who only gives her daughter one color of Play-Doh at a time, in fear that the colors might meld together (eek!).
So, while my 8-month old son was napping, I set out behind our house to start that Pinterest paint project I saw online last month – hand and footprint fish! I pinned it from Sun Hats and Wellie Boots.
Lillian really enjoyed painting more than I expected – the girl typically doesn’t like to get messy. (She’s the toddler who needs to change her dress if it gets wet!). She actually liked getting the paint all over her body. About ten minutes into painting she was covered head to toe in paint, and I managed a few decent prints.
Suddenly, I noticed a police car pull up relatively close to where we were seated. At this point, I was certain that painting your daughter is a form of child abuse, and my neighbors have ratted me out. I was relieved to see they were calling on a different house, not mine!
About ten minutes after that, I heard my son starting to fuss. At this point, I was covered in as much paint as Lillian. But the fun activity had to cease because nap time was over in a fury upstairs. Well, not so easy with a 2-year old! A full tantrum ensued and I was certain the cops were headed my way because surely my daughter’s screams were that of a child being deprived breakfast and all other necessities of life.
So in the end, painting was a fun way to spend our morning. And even though the project looks nothing like a fish, we both enjoyed reaching beyond our tidy comfort-zone. One thing I learned is that next time, we will ease our way out of a fun project (even if younger sibling is crying upstairs!).
