Saturday, September 25, 2010

The Fingerpaint Debacle

I should have know better, right from the start. Baby L had been grumpy all morning long. She protested getting her diaper changed, she refused her pieces of french toast, even when I dipped them in yogurt, and she arched her back and tried to escape when I bundled her into the baby carrier for a walk with her doggy, Indigo.

But then, while she took her nap, I discovered a grocery bag full of baby-friendly non-toxic finger paints hanging on our coat rack. This is the answer to Baby L's cranky mood I thought.

When L woke up, I plopped her in the high chair. "Guess what I have for you!" I announced gleefully. She didn't look very interested.

I squeezed a small dab of blue onto her highchair tray. She looked at it, stuck her finger in it and pushed it around a little, and then looked at me as if to say, "Yeah, so...?"

So I added some yellow. Still no big reaction.

So I added some more... and some more...

I don't know what I was thinking, really. She's only eleven months old, after all. I should have seen trouble coming... but I added one more squirt. And Baby L, with the swish of her tiny little fingers had a mouth full of fingerpaint.

Needless to say, I freaked. I immediately stuck my fingers in her mouth and scooped out as much paint as I could. I grabbed a nearby wash cloth and cleaned out her mouth, with L screaming at the top of her lungs, of course.

Moral of the story: Paint looks just like food to babies. Next time, I'll just use food.

4 comments:

  1. Oh no! Paint fail. I have to ask - what color did she taste?

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  2. Blue-- and now that I'm thinking about it, it actually makes sense, even though the red looks a lot more like food. Baby L. pulls out the blue blocks from all of the blocks in her bucket, and she also goes for her blue bath toys. Daddy B. noticed her preference for blue first, and now that we noticed, we've been watching for it--sure enough, blue is her fave! Hmm... maybe my next post will be about colors! Thanks for the idea, Cole! What a smart baby you are! No wonder you have your own blog!

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  3. Everything looks like food to babies!!! My 12-month-old has finally learned, after months of taste-testing, that the carpet fibers that the cats pull up are yucky!
    Love your blog!

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  4. Update-- Our amazing nanny came up with the smartest idea-- she puts the fingerpaint on Baby L.'s feet and tapes a giant sheet of paper to the floor so L can walk around on it to make her designs! Too cute!

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