the Artiste strikes again

My house isn't always spotless, but I do try to keep it presentable and orderly, for the most part. Sometimes I have to do deeper cleaning than others, and when it's time for an extra-good scrub, I try to find an art project or some other activity that will keep Jed thoroughly engrossed for the longest time possible. Thursday, my oven was begging for attention, so I decided to pull out the finger paints for Jed. He had great fun with them when we made our Fathers' Day cards, but we hadn't played with them since.

I got Jed settled with a big piece of paper, a paper plate full of paints, and he was good to go. I armed myself with 409, Comet and my green scrubby and set to work. Karen Carpenter was singing in the background and all was right with the world.

For about 8 minutes. Just when I was singing "On top of the World" and up to my elbows in green paste, Jed said "blech." It didn't really register. He's been saying "blech" a lot lately (like, at every meal) but there wasn't anything to say "blech" about. But then I heard it again: "blech." And then "blech blech BLECH BLECH!"

Oh, my son. Truthfully, I laughed until my stomach hurt, Jed looking mystified and pitiful in his chair the whole time.

He got tired of me laughing and said "Mommy, paint yucky!"

What do you suppose possessed him to try the paint? It doesn't smell good at all, so I can't imagine wanting to eat it, but then again, I'm not a two-year-old boy. I'm sure he thought "hmm, this might taste good," and when it didn't, he used his other hand to try to scrape the paint out of his mouth, and it just got worse and worse.


Never fear, eventually I stopped laughing, got him a drink and put him in the tub. It can't have been that horrible of an experience for him, because he asked me yesterday to paint again.