Dirty & Clean

For some reason, I have this believe that regardless of the mess it makes, 99% of the time I let it go--because I think Amara is "learning..." (clearly a character fault:))

That said--and with the knowledge of last summer's pudding painting, etc. it should come as no surprise that I encourage Amara to feed herself, try new tastes, activities, etc.--which often causes quite a mess (and cleanup for mom and dad).

A while back--I think it was Grandma (or daddy) who tried chocolate pudding, and surprisingly--Amara wanted nothing to do with it. I think I even tried it soon after the fact, and chalked it up to being "too sweet," ...though it was sugar free...oh well.

I should also mention that I try to "re-introduce" foods (because I read somewhere that works) several times to truly determine if a toddler doesn't like something, or was just surprised by it, or perhaps has a temperature/ texture issue (which I TOTALLY get).

For some reason, a pudding found its' way out onto the counter. Amara spotted it and asked for it, so I put a bib on and held my breath. Immediately she loved it--so much that she walked off with it! At that point, the "trying to get it back--" or even enough to get HER into her chair, was a dance between her, the pudding, the dog, and each other (oh, and dad with the camera).

In the end, we gave up, got out the little green clean machine (to clean up the aftermath) and just laughed about it.

LUCKILY--the same day, we received a BOAT LOAT of bath paint/soap products I had eagerly ordered a few days prior. Amara loves the bath--always has, so getting her in there has never really been an issue; however, one of her favorite toys recently bit it, and frankly--there wasn't a lot for her to do in there that didn't seem "too baby" for her now.

I decided to go creative. She LOVES to draw, paint, do crafts, etc. so I hoped this would work.

WOW, did it ever! She loved getting the paints all over her, mixing the colors, and getting it everywhere--and the best part? It didn't matter! We painted each others' hands, she painted her belly, she even tried to paint poor Ily! The soap paint smelled like bubble gum too, and didn't stain a single thing, so bonus for me!

Not only did we get to bring her love for art into the tub, AND help pudding clean-up, but we now are not shy on things to do in the tub for the next month or two (hopefully!)