September 7, 2008 Grandparents Day

Today was Sophia's first-ever Grandparents Day! We had to mark this day especially for the grandparents since Sophia is their very first grandchild.

Sophia wanted to use her great new-found skill of getting really messy so we put that to paper and created finger paintings for the grandparents. Sophia made finger paint pictures for Grandma and Grandpa.

Inspired by my new hibiscus plant’s exotic bright red flowers we created the first project a red flower for Grandma because she was coming to visit for Grandparents’ Day. Sophia and I sat on the floor with red and green construction paper on the floor, a bowl of water and lots of paper towels for clean-up. I squirted a drop of Crayola finger paint for each hand onto the paper and held Sophia up and let her move her hands around the paper making swirls and painting. She loved it. Even our dog tried to get into the act because there was so much excitement coming from Sophia as she made her creation for Grandma. After the page was full of paint I cleaned her up and put her down for a nap while project one dried.

While she napped, the paint dried and I cut the construction paper into the shape of a flower and stem. When she awoke, she was so excited to see how cool her picture was she did a little dance spinning around on her bottom on the deck. Around and around she kept going spinning delighted with her project holding it up for the camera and acting as though she was kissing and sniffing the exotic flower. The reason we chose a flower for Grandma is that she was the first person to really point out flowers to Sophia. She taught Sophia to look at pretty flowers while we were at the Lake of the Ozarks this summer.

For round two, I sat her in her highchair in her diaper and a bib. I removed the sectioned eating tray from the highchair so that she would have a smooth surface to create her picture for Grandpa. I gave her some yellow colored construction paper and two squirts, one for each hand, of Crayola finger paints and she started working her magic.

Excitement filled the air once again as I told her to put her hands in the squishy paint and spread it all over the paper. Her face lit up when she discovered she was going to get to make another mess and not get in any trouble for it. (Has mommy lost her mind letting an almost one-year-old paint in the kitchen over white carpet? I am sure that is what she was thinking.) She loved every minute of her artistry. She swirled the paint around and up and down and covered the paper as best she could with the bright colored paints. I bet she was thinking I don’t want to stop this messy fun.

Sophia smiled as the bright blue paint spread around the yellow paper. When she was through, the paper was soaked with paint. I had to let this one dry overnight before I could cut it into the shape of a balloon. I chose a balloon for my dad, her grandpa, because it reminded me of when I was a child just slightly older than Sophia. My dad used to tie the helium balloons that I received onto my arm so I wouldn’t lose them. It only takes one lost balloon and lots of tears for parents to realize how important a helium balloon is to a child. I loved balloons as a child and still do, although now I prefer hot-air balloons especially when they land in my backyard just missing my house and deck.

(FYI, the finger paints are non-toxic so no need to worry grandma and grandpa when you read this. She didn’t try to eat the paint at all. )

Displayed above in the slideshow is some of her work.