How a Paint With a Two-Year Old

Fuzzy Wuzzy is a budding artist, and over the past month I've finally realized that I have neglected to give him the proper tools he needs to experiment with art. I usually just give him crayons or markers, but I'm realizing that maybe I should be allowing him to paint or use playdough or other such things, as he seems to thrive on that type of activity.

For example, just about every day he purposely pours his water, or his juice, or his milk (from cup or cereal bowl) onto the table. He then proceeds to fingerpaint on the table with the chosen art medium of the day. Sometimes he'll use other more fun art media, such as yogurt, pudding, mushy fruit, spaghetti sauce, etc. We have not yet found an effective discipline method to discourage such behavior.

Usually, if Fuzzy-Wuzzy chooses to paint with his drinks/food, it's a small mess on the table, maybe a few drips on the floor. Two weeks ago, he thought he'd expand his artistic endeavors, while HotSauce and I were on our third day of running high fevers. We were splitting our time between sleeping upstairs vs. downstairs on the couch caring for the boys. Fuzzy-Wuzzy had asked for Cheerios with milk, and I happily complied (anything... just let me rest please!)

When he called me from the couch with an emphatic "All done!", I arrived to find this (enlarge the pictures by clicking on them). Yes, half of my very large kitchen... (half the table, half the floors, half the chairs, half the walls) and my precious little boy, were covered in milk and soggy Cheerios. I think he splashed and swiped at the mess on the table, sending it flying all over the kitchen.

I stripped Fuzzy-Wuzzy and threw him in the bathtub, and then... there I was, in my pjs with 102+ fever, on my hands and knees with dishrags, scooping up soggy Cheerios and rinsing them into the sink. I was shaking from either chills or sweats--I felt all sweaty but I think that's because my legs were all wet with milk from crawling in it as I tried to clean it up.

Then and there I purposed that I would soon find a time to get out real fingerpaints and supervise my little artist. Yesterday, the rainy day that it was, seemed perfect for fingerpainting.

So, what do you think? Do you see that it's in his hair too? I was glad that I hadn't gotten dressed yet when this occurred, as I definitely got some on me as I tried to clean this boy up. I took his shorts and diaper off, and stuck him in the tub with his shirt still on.

I think this whole ordeal took an hour out of my day. Aside from the unsupervised Cheerio mess during my illness, the everyday artwork that my Fuzzy-Wuzzy creates with his drinks and food is pretty easy to clean up. (1-2 minutes tops). He also really enjoys it.

Fingerpaints are so overrated. Bring on the milk and juice!