Fun Art For Daughter, Nightmare For Mommy
The Wall
Notice the lovely fingerprints. The smudges are mine this happened when I attempted to remove the oil based paint. Ack!
Occasionally, when you have a little one running around things can become very quiet, too quiet. This happened to me last evening. Aiyana had finished dinner about an hour before. Was doing some light studying and it dawned on me Aiyana isn’t saying anything. Our rooms are right next to each other so I went into her room. I thought I had put all the paints out of her reach. I guess not. Oh well, I silently thought after kicking myself. The room really needed to be painted anyway.
The Painted Mirror
Look at the funny shapes. I’m thinking she balled her hand into a fist to make this. Aiyana is so talented.
My daughter was hiding. I guess was shy about her work, right? I found her hiding place. You would think it would change It’s the same one every time. She hides in her closet and breathes. Whenever I come into her room to “find her,” I can hear her. Why? She’s getting excited and starts chokes back the laughter by clamping her hand on her mouth. I envisioned her doing this as I walked slowly to the close door. However some of the sound escapes and it makes a breathy “hee hee” sound.
Clock Art
As you can see Aiyana was very creative last evening. Aiyana really set off this clock with her artistic skills. Notice how she was careful not to get the paint on the clock but she surrounded the clock with her artwork.
I envisioned her doing this grin peaking out beneath her fingertips. Her eyes wide in excitement. Her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunks who’s been gather nuts. I envisioned her doing this as I walked slowly to the close door. After I “found” her we discussed the fact that walls, mirrors, and furniture were really not the place to add her signature. I pointed out more practical spots that she could leave her mark. Paper, fabric that I bought specifically for that purpose, or even some of the crafts can be painted. She grudgingly agreed that this might be a better choice.
The nightmare continues
Then I went downstairs…
On the living room floor near the couch, I saw her signature again. This time it was on the carpet! A bright pool of crimson red paint. It’s almost a perfect circle about eight inches wide. Oh No! I thought. This is going to take me forever to clean up. I was tired and was wanting to going to bed early. There was no covering up this artwork. As I walked towards this last display of creative art my mind raced with possible “cover ups” I could use to artistically hide this mess. To my relief I discovered that the oil based paint was still wet. Whew! In hindsight, I should have taken a picture and although I thought about it. At the time, the only thing I wanted was to get rid of that offensive art. The carpet is only two years old.
Using buckets of soapy water, scrubbing, rinsing and repeating I could finally remove her trademark. In total, it took about an hour. My fingers were raw from the vigorous rubbing and my fingertips were wrinkled like raisins, but the spot is gone. Aiyana, my shadow, was beside me telling me what a good job I was doing. I had to bite back my, “I wouldn’t even be doing this if you had left those paints alone!” Those words were floating around in my mouth, but I didn’t let them out. We talked about paints again and how this wasn’t allowed. I am happy to say that the carpet is now back to its original color although I do have trophies because of it. My fingertips are raw. Sigh.
After I was finished, I hunted down all her paints and put them in the shed they are now stored on a one of beams way up in the ceiling. Today, after my fitness workout, I’m going to the craft store and buying washable paints.
Question: What are some of your child’s “creative moments” or what have you done as a child?
*Updated to add pictures
[tags]family, child creativity[/tags]
on December 12th, 2007 at 6:10 am
i can’t believe the amount of patience it required for you to handle this! my parents would have (and occasionally did) give me a major emotional and physical beating for this..
Your daughter is lucky to have you, were you always so patient?
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on December 12th, 2007 at 6:18 am
Since my early twenties. I realized screaming and yelling just keeps the negativity going and it really doesn’t help the situation. you transfer the anger to whoever it is directed at and if they don’t stop they will pass it on.
on December 12th, 2007 at 8:37 am
LOL! Maybe I shouldn’t be laughing, but this is just like one of my nieces and you handle it much better. I admire your patience and hope that when I have children, I will have the same because I was a hellian :evil: of sorts. I used to finger paint on my bedroom walls with chocolat pudding and then if I didn’t like it, I would tear the wallpaper. I really miss that wallpaper! ~Jerry :cry:
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on December 12th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Jerry Graffam,
Oh you can laugh about it. I was trying hard not to laugh when I saw it because well I wanted my daughter to know this was not acceptable. However it was hard to keep a straight face. I could tell she put a lot of effort into her creations.
:lol: Chocolate pudding! Edible art! :razz: Yes I was a handful when I was a child also. It’s payback time.
on December 12th, 2007 at 8:56 am
Oh boy….what fun! I don’t recall doing anything like this as a child and dabbled on the walls in any significant way. :) As a teen though I painted a mural on one of my walls but I was given permission. ;)
Beth Ellen’s last blog post..Abstract Digital Art: Apophysis
on December 12th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Evidently my older son takes after his mom. When I was 5 we returned to NYC from a trip to visit family in Denver. I promptly took out my crayons and drew my own interpretation of The Front Range down the long halll in our apartment. I used lots of green and some yellow since the Aspen had been in the process of changing colors. Fast forward a couple of decades (and add a few years). Now it is me who has just returned with husband and son from a trip to Colorado. Our son (age 5 at the time) takes up his blue and orange crayons and “gifts” us with his artistic interpretation of The Front Range. Only he has used orange and blue crayon as we had attended a Denver Broncos game while we were in Colorado!
How happy am I that Crayola has website that allows you to enter in the product used, what it was used on and how to clean it off!
Like you I had to stifle my own laughter because, damn it is funny when they do stuff like that, but yeah, we need to be the adult and reinforce that walls are not for drawing on, unless there is paper involved.
Great post! Thanks for letting me travel down memory lane!
on December 12th, 2007 at 10:31 am
You are indeed a patient person. I yell a lot at my children last time but I notice that they tend to shut me off. So, no point yelling at them. Too lengthy an explanation doesn’t work too cos they think I’m nagging them.
My kids draw on walls and tables too when they are young but now, they don’t do that anymore. It’s just a matter of time, I think.
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on December 12th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Wow! Aiyana sure did get creative and I admire your patience also. But I can see how the emotions would be mixed with laughter and exasperation at the cleanup involved. I’m so glad she is not stifled. WHo knows? She may go on to be a famous mural painter, right? I don’t think I was ever that creative as a kid. Sorry - no funny stories that I can think of - I’ll have to ask my mom next time I talk to her.
teeni’s last blog post..The Wicked Cool Writing Assignment - The Variety Show
on December 12th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
I’ll just say, “I did all the laughing for you Opal.” :p
You’re a very good parent by not loosing it.
I’m surprised it only took an hour though. I think you’re fibbing by saying an hour. :roll:
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on December 12th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Beth Ellen,
I didn’t do it either at least I don’t remember doing it. My mother tells a different story, lol.
Devra,
Oh my! He was doing a repeat. It was hilarious. I just hated the clean up.
JO-N,
That’s exactly why I don’t do it. I remember when my mom used to yell at me. I would just tune her out. She was yelling for nothing in my opinion.
I wish Aiyana would express herself in ways other than wall decorating. :lol:
teeni,
My daughter has taught me patience. That would be cool if she became a famous painter. She would have to fill my house with her paintings. Actually I already do have a few hanging in the house.
MacBros,
Yes it is funny. Silly girl. Nope not fibbing about the clean up but I only cleaned the carpet. The stuff on the wall, mirror, and table are still there. It’s in her room so I’ll tackle it later. That is going to take a long time to clean up.
on December 12th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
My son drew multiple mouseholes on the skirting boards - I nearly freaked out without my bifocals on!
Cheers
Maddy’s last blog post..Tactile What? Wordy Wednesday
on December 12th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Wow! This so reminds me of something my daughter did. It was the day the movers were getting all of our stuff, and we were literally leaving the next morning to move several states over so time was a major crunch. While we paid the movers, we noticed the very scary silence. She found some paint that would normally be put away, but was loose in the midst of the move. She painted a huge, multi-colored mural on her wall!!! All the stuff we had to do that day to leave first thing next morning, and we had to repaint a wall! :roll:
You definitely have patience with your child. I sort of figure it’s inevitable that things like this happen at some point. Kids are experimenters. I still hear from my parents about the time I poured chicken soup on the TV… and this was in the 70s when TVs were pretty expensive. :grin:
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on December 12th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
It was 1980 and we had a new blue car. Our youngest had been scratching marks on the driveway with stones, and… I bet you can guess her next target.
The scratches weren’t bad, but I thought they were, and I was furious. However, they buffed out pretty well.
She was 4 1/2 years old.
The car is long gone, but we’ll be visiting her and her kids in Wisconsin next week - after we drive home from Virginia.
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on December 12th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
I’m soooo sorry. I feel your pain. :(
My boys never succumbed to the urge to draw on the walls ( well, mostly) but cleaning up their paint was always a nightmare, and there’s been an instance or five where they’ve spilled God knows what and permanently stained the carpet.
Lately I’ve been keeping my boys busy with Kabillion’s Little Director. It’s a kid-friendly online sketchbook you can find at http://www.kabillion.com/littledirector . My boys love to spend hours drawing on the site, and the pictures can even be taken a step further and turned into complete animations, with music, voiceovers and everything!
The site also allows you to buy your child’s masterpiece on DVD. My boys’ latest movie will make a great Christmas gift for my mom. She’ll love it! I only know about this because I work with Kabillion, but even I think it’s fun. I’m so happy to share this with my children!
on December 12th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
I wonder what was going through your daugthers mind while she was painting all this?
I think this is a situation where you just have to laugh it off.
My daughters most creative moment has got to be crayons on the basement wall. In 20 minutes she almost completely covered the lower half of a 6 foot long wall.
The paint was white and the crayon(s) were black. My wife was furious, I was impressed at the detail of her work. She was only 2 at the time.
on December 13th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Maddy,
Oh my that is hilarious! I imagine it wasn’t funny at the time. :lol:
Kelby,
What a busy time you had and the day before moving. I guess she wanted to make it memorable, eh? ;-)
Mike,
You were saved by the buffer. I know my brother and his friend decided to paint the friends moms car. The friend got his mothers finger nail polish and they both proceeded to paint her white station wagon. I remember that car vividly and the mothers reaction. I was four at the time and my brother was three.
Glad that you were able to buff out the scratches!
Nina,
My daughter has online drawing programs also but she still likes to draw on paper, crafts, and occasionally walls. I’ll check out the program. I’m sure my daughter would love to check it out.
Steve,
Who knows in her mind she was creating a masterpiece! :lol: It seems as if you had the same reaction as myself. You definitely need humor, patience, self control, etc., in your interaction with children. They love to experiment and at times try your patience. ;-)
on December 14th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
LOL, that sooo reminds me of myself as a kid. I was constantly doing my best to decorate my surroundings, much to the distress of my lovely parents.
Probably the worst was when my father had just finished painting our brand new wooden porch. Red floor, white posts and railings. Ah, but then I found the white paint hidden under the porch! And I proceeded to paint a HUGE white circle in the middle of the red floor. :shock:
Oh yeah, and then I continued by painting my red tricycle and my greed John Deer tractor. The tricycle became fully white and the tractor got a huge racing stripe right down the middle of it.
How my parents didn’t kill me is beyond me; I was always into something. But I do remember my mom jokingly uttering this phrase many-a-time…”Now I know why some animals eat their young.” :lol:
Shine on,
Aaron
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