Bird House Painting Gone Rogue

It was another super rainy day here, but with a short mid-morning break just long enough to do a Target run to keep the cabin fever from setting in.

While there, we picked up these $3 birdhouse/paint kits to keep the girls entertained after lunch, 'cause they just luuuurv their painting.

I stripped Chicklet's shirt, just in case she got a little haphazard, but Chica's so dainty when it comes to not getting messy, I didn't really worry about her. At the time. (Oh, ho, ho, ho...silly, naive Mama).

They did so great. Focused, as usual.

I'm still so impressed with Chicklet's awesome grip skills. She holds pens and paint brushes just perfectly. (And, hello, cute swipe on her cheek.)

A minute or so after this, Chicklet put down her brush with a flourish and tossed her arms up in victory, mumbling something along the lines of "done." And since Little Man was getting antsy in his jumper, I decided it was time to pack it in and head upstairs.

But Chica wasn't nearly done with her masterpiece, and hilariously told me to "go upstairs; I'll stay here." And I did--to keep the other two from melting down.

But...I kept a hawk eye on Chica. I hollered from the playroom every 60 seconds, saying, "you okay down there?" And she always promptly answered with confidence.

And--look! In between verbal checks, I made visual ones, crouching down to peer through the banister. And I was so proud of how well she was doing, solo.

But after a few more minutes, Chicklet was getting sad without her play buddy, and started to keep watch at the railing...

And then when she retreated to the loneliness of her room and hid behind I book, I gave Chica the two-minute warning to wrap it up.

And sometime in that next two minutes, she managed to do this:

I should have known when she didn't answer in the affirmative until the second time I hollered her two-minute warning. 

Silence is not golden, my friends, when the babes are awake. It Always. Means. Trouble.

Of course, being the obnoxious I-Record-Every-Moment Mama that I am, I took pics, even as she started breaking down, because after the initial high of going nuts with the paint, she was unhappy with how it looked, and afraid it wouldn't come off. (And, hilariously, Chicklet was afraid of how it looked, too.)

But never fear. A good scrubbing did the trick.

And turned that painted frown upside down.

For the record, the painting area downstairs was contained. No rogue artwork on the walls or anything, ha.

And I think Chica learned this particular lesson (at least, I hope).

And...I suppose it was a good lesson for me as I continually gauge how much I can and cannot trust her. Ha. Baby steps, peeps. Baby steps.

And lastly, since I ended up tossing all three kiddos in the bath tub to keep them all in my line of sight, they took sound naps afterward. And I got my ridiculously adorable snuggle buddy :)

Never a dull day, peeps. Never a dull day.

Happy Hump Day!