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Blue paint on little hands = uh oh

Posted Dec 7, 2009 by Beth Gaddis

Updated Dec 7, 2009 at 03:07 PM

You know you’re in trouble when your 3-year-old wakes you up to show you the blue paint on his fingers.

“Look, Daddy!” Jay said this morning, waiting until the clock had a 7 as the first number, like he had been taught.  “I painted and I was real careful!”

My husband, Carter, came instantly awake, throwing off the covers and jumping out of bed.  “Jay, what did you do?”

He washed the blue fingerpaint off Jay’s hands and the two of them headed down the stairs, Carter examining every inch of wall and carpet for tell-tale blue stains.  So far, so good.

There on the kitchen table was the proof of the crime.  We had made colorful handprints on some photo mattes last night and I had left the mattes on the newspaper on the kitchen table to dry.  And I had committed a cardinal sin: I had not put the paint away.  Instead of being in its customary place high up on top of the refrigerator, it was right there on the table, within easy reach of any enterprising preschooler.

Jay had flipped over one of the mattes so he could have a fresh, unused palette. Then he had taken a paper plate out of the pantry, opened up the paint and squirted a healthy amount onto the plate, just like he had seen mommy do the night before.  All the while, my unsuspecting husband was sound asleep upstairs.  Jay was careful not to wake him; after all, the clock still showed a “6” and he knows he has to wait until there is a “7” before he can wake us up.

Did I mention I had committed another cardinal sin?  I had forgotten to lock the gate at the top of the stairs, which I used to do religiously but had grown lax lately. 

Fortunately, he didn’t fall down the stairs.  Fortunately, he had been very neat and had done a great job making handprints on the matte.  Fortunately, he had managed to walk down the hall, up the stairs, into our bedroom and past the cat without once touching anything with his blue-stained hands. 

And fortunately, I have learned a valuable lesson about living what I preach: Put away your toys and projects when you’re done.

Now where did I leave the scissors?

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